


On Days Like These: Book 2

by supasaiyanswagg



Series: On Days Like These [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Angst, Anxiety, Depression, F/M, Fluff, Guilt, Memory Loss, Mute Frisk, Pre-Undertale, Reader-Insert, Romance, Sans the skeleton - Freeform, Twisted and Fluffy Feelings, Undertale References, Verbal Abuse, no one remembers reader besides sans, on days like these, reader - Freeform, reader is a wanna be lara croft, reader is an astrologist, readers got a gun, sans reader - Freeform, she doesnt remember anything, slowburn, some badass bullshit, this time around is before they reach the surface, will include warnings at beginning of each chapter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-08
Updated: 2017-07-27
Packaged: 2018-10-01 03:33:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 56,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10179722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supasaiyanswagg/pseuds/supasaiyanswagg
Summary: The sequel to On Days Like These, follows the reader as they cope and figure out what happens now that things are different.What will you do without your memories?





	1. Wrong

**Author's Note:**

> Hello friends! : ) it is finally here!

Something was wrong. Very wrong.

Your heart was pounding out of your chest as you panicked.

Adrenaline pumped harshly through your veins, a cold sweat surfacing on your skin. Something had happened but you couldn’t place it. A nightmare? A dull pain started in your temple when you tried to force the memory of anything before you woke up.

You couldn’t open your eyes, much less move. Was it… sleep paralysis?

Finally finding a small sliver of lucidity, you jolted up in bed with a choked gasp. Your body shook in response, startled by the loss of control.

Peeling your eyes open to focus through the darkness, you found that you were still in your bedroom. Same old furniture, same old king bed. You sucked in deep breaths, checking on the sleeping form next to you. He was thankfully still asleep, snoring away on his side, a leg hanging off the edge as usual.

A glint of metal caught your eye, your engagement ring… except it was all wrong. The diamond was gone, an earthy blue stone in its place. Your stomach dropped at the thought of losing the ring and quickly convinced yourself it was the light playing off the stone weird. Explaining that to him would be a nightmare on its own.

You placed a shaking hand on your chest in an attempt to ground yourself, a sharp ache buried there.  A large lump had formed in your throat, your neck sore somehow even though you had slept on your back. You decided now was as good a time as any for a bathroom break and silently slipped out of bed. Padding down the hallway, you flicked on the bathroom light and caught yourself in the mirror.

The nagging feeling of ‘wrong’ came back as you pushed a strand of brunette hair behind your ear. You tried to ignore it, figuring it would take you a few minutes to get over the nightmare shock. Yawning, you rubbed a hand under your night shirt and over your toned stomach. Something was… missing. The ache in your heart increased ten-fold, forcing you to nearly double over.

You needed to get a grip and get back to bed before he woke up, you told yourself. A quick splash of water sort of helped your weird feelings, not so much your ability to go back to sleep. You couldn’t even remember what the nightmare had been about… but maybe you didn’t want to.

A shaken deep breath later and you were climbing back into bed, gently tugging on his arm so you could lay with him. He roughly shrugged his arm away from you, grumbling a “fuckin’ quit it” before pulling the blanket over himself. You sighed quietly, turning away and using the small bit of blanket left over.

Tomorrow would be better.

 

* * *

 

You woke on the couch to the blaring of your phone alarm after being kicked out of bed for too many of what you assumed were nightmares. Rushing to the bathroom, you quickly tied your hair in a ponytail and slipped on some leggings.

Paused in front of the mirror, you stared at a tube of lip color, trying to decide on wearing it or not. Maybe he wouldn’t notice? Maybe if you only used a little, he wouldn’t care? Before you had a chance to open it, you heard tired shuffles coming toward the bathroom. You swallowed, nearly throwing the makeup in a drawer.

You hurriedly grabbed your tooth brush, slathering it in the paste to look innocent. You gave him a (hopefully) bright smile when he slouched against the door frame, rubbing his eyes with annoyance. “H-hey uh, good morning” you greeted, trying to gauge whether he was just tired or angry. He made a noise in his throat, glancing over at you.

“Is that what you’re wearing today” he said with a hint of disbelief.

You shifted uncomfortably as you looked down at your leggings and plain v-neck shirt, refusing to lift your eyes. “I um didn’t get a lot of sleep last night and I just thou-“ you started quietly, getting cut off by an annoyed grunt.

“That makes two of us then, doesn’t it? Barely got any sleep but you don’t see me wearing fucking sweats to work. Look at all that cleavage too, probably showing off for the boys at work, huh? ” he tutted, shaking his head dismissively. A garbled ‘no’ came through your brushing, suddenly feeling all kinds of self-conscious.

You brushed your teeth slowly, trying your best to stay strong and not cry. That’d only make things worse. He undressed and hopped in the shower, ignoring you fully for the rest of the morning. Changing your shirt to a long sleeve crew neck, you shoved food in your face unceremoniously before getting everything ready to go.

You couldn’t help but glance every so often at your _not_ engagement ring. Where the fuck had that thing gone to? And where did this one come from? You stared at the swirling blue in the ring, the colors seemingly growing darker as you watched. The metal looked old… like really fucking old. The kind of old that made you wonder if it was a Titanic replica but somehow even older. A twinge of panic set in as you realized that while he hadn’t noticed it was an imposter yet, you really weren’t looking forward to that conversation.

Setting down your partially burnt toast and wiping your hands on your leggings, you tugged on the ring. Your knuckle turned red from the force but the ring stayed put. What the hell… You moved to the sink and patted liquid soap around it, tugging it a little harder this time. You were sure that if you pulled any harder, your knuckle would dislocate.

Washing off the soap, you decided to leave it until lunch. Maybe your fingers were swollen? Looking up the nearest jeweler on your cracked phone screen, you found that there was one nearly a block away from the lab. There. Now if it wouldn’t come off after lunch, you at least had a backup plan.

He came out of the bedroom, wearing the same sort of get-up for the small astrological lab as he did for NASA. You thought it made him look handsome and more important than he sometimes felt he wasn’t. You hoped he felt as important as you thought he looked.

Offering him his jacket, you slid your old bag over your shoulder and slipped your beat up heels on. Without a word, he opened the door and headed out down the hall. You followed silently, praying he would get over this by the end of the day.

The drive to the lab was silent, though the tension radiated off of him. You tried to focus on the landscape out the window, the looming Mount Ebott casting a dreary gray fog over the city. You noticed that your heart pulled toward the mountain, your eyes never leaving the massive pile of earth until sky scrapers took its place.

You wondered if maybe you and him could go camping up there, take your mind off things. Even saying it in your mind sounded like a bad idea though, you instantly knew the answer. He drove quickly, parking the car in the reserved spot with a sigh. He looked over at you and for a second all of your muscles tensed in anticipation.

“Listen, I don’t want you talking to Anderson anymore. The guy is a fucking douchebag.” He stated with finality.

You swallowed thickly, your hands beginning to sweat with worry. Anderson had ‘smiled too much’ at you. That was what he told you the first time he was brought up. You brushed it off as coworkers just getting along, that much was true. You weren’t attracted to Anderson, nor did you want anything to do with him other than work and research. And that was going to be a problem.

“But-“ you started meekly, wincing when he glared daggers toward the passenger seat.

“I-It’s just that… Anderson is in my research group for quarter 2… I can’t just not talk to him” you piped up weakly, your voice growing more hushed with each word. You couldn’t help but fidget with your fingers as you spoke, the anxiety in your chest making it hard to breathe.

“Stop fucking around with your hands and look at me when you’re talking to me.” He snapped, “God damn, ______. It’s like I’m dating a fucking child sometimes.”

You halted the sob in your throat and the fidgeting in your lap. “I-I’m sorry” you whispered.

He sighed and leaned over his seat to grab his briefcase, causing you to flinch in response. You hoped and prayed to every god that he didn’t notice, and luckily he didn’t.

The walk to the doors was fine enough, he tugged your hand out of your jacket pocket to hold it. His warm fingers interlocking with yours gave you some comfort. You allowed yourself a smile and reveled in the feeling.

He held the door open for you, greeting Jessica at the receptionist desk with a warm ‘good morning’ as he led you up the stairs to your workstations. You smiled at her in passing, the fake crooks at the ends of your lips fading with each step further away. A quiet ‘psst’ made its way up to you, luckily not for him though.

Glancing over the railing, you saw Willow meet your eyes before she began to sign. She signed quickly, informing you that she would be waiting for you near the back entrance on the other side of the building for lunch. Not wanting to draw attention, you simply nodded.

Before long, you made it to your workstation and he left you with a halfhearted kiss on the cheek. A small flicker of life came to be in your numbed chest at the notion of a kiss. You sighed and tried to focus on the tasks at hand, finishing this research without talking to Anderson.

You managed to make it through the first half of the day without falling asleep at your computer, though your eyes burned with need for rest. You forced yourself to perk up as he came into view with two of his good buddies.

He settled from a rumble of laughter before turning to you, “Babe, me and the boys are gonna go to the bar down the street for burgers. I’ll be back a little late.” He informed you, giving a quick peck to the top of your head. You smiled up at him, your heart blooming ever so slightly at the contact before you nodded.

“Okay, have fun” you called to the already closing glass door. With a sigh, you slid from your chair and slowly raised, peeking over the stairs to watch them leave out the front doors. You had an hour with maybe an extra thirty minutes if he was truly late.

Wasting no time, you grabbed the duffle bag out from under your desk. You set up a convincing ‘someone eating lunch that just left for a moment’ scene on your desk and dashed toward the other side of the building.

Taking the stairs two at a time, you shared a silent smile with Willow but didn’t hesitate to push the stairwell door open. Best to keep moving. She always parked her Jeep near this door, making for quick getaways.

You took a long and true deep breath of the late January air, not minding the bite of the cold. It freed you, ever so slightly.

You plopped the duffle bag on your lap as she pulled out of the lab parking lot, hauling toward the large gym. “So” she yelled over the white noise of wind, “how is Assface treating you today?”

You weren’t sure whether to laugh or feel guilty at the question. Guilty for what? You had no idea. You offered a shrug and turned on a loud pop station that he would never let you play in the car. _Drink it in._ You told yourself, knowing full well that when you got back, it would all be the same. Willow shook her head at you, but you could tell that she still glanced at you nervously.

Willow was your oldest friend in the lab, your second reference for bringing him there after NASA had let him go. She saw the rise and the fall. She knew everything, it was like a super power she had over you. The guilt of not telling her about things would honestly kill you one day. One day he told you not to hang out with her anymore after she told you to stand up for yourself. That had been hard. You still couldn’t do it… but she understood. So you hid together.

You told her it was just the way he got used to things, how he coped. He was still so broken from losing his childhood dream. Deep down you knew it was a lie… but lunch breaks were not meant for existential crises.

 

* * *

 

She whipped the Jeep into park and bounded for the gym doors, tugging you along behind her. You were still exhausted from the lack of sleep you got last night… but perhaps this was what you needed. To channel all of the unknown and horrible feelings inside of you into an act. That was why you snuck away to the gym instead of Willow’s office.

Willow was convinced that if you wouldn’t stand up for yourself, she needed to take matters into her own hands. At first, you resisted fully, afraid of being caught. The workouts helped though. Every other day, you would take self-defense together. You were both rather good at this point and could take down some fully grown men by performing some Black Widow bullshit. Not that you’d ever show or use it on him…

Other days, you did something for fun. Sometimes you’d go for a hike, go fishing, rock climbing, anything that could be done close to the lab and in under an hour. A few times… you had both even visited the gun range a few miles out of town. The sense of power and emotion in that place always left you queasy but Willow said you were a natural.

Today was rock climbing, a favorite of yours since the gym had an extensive rock wall that went up at least two stories. Huffing and Puffing, you slapped the bell that was bolted into the ceiling, a few cheers carrying up to the rafters from bystanders. You and Willow always raced. That was part of the fun, heart beating out of your chest as you made a fart noise in her general direction below you.

“Yeah, yeah” she wheezed a little, swinging toward you to slap your foot in defiance. You laughed genuinely, the noise reverberating though you.

“I wanted to tell you something” you rasped, gripping the handle at the edge of the wall. She glanced up at you and grabbed a weirdly shaped rock near your shoe to lift herself higher.

“Yeah? What about?” she asked, finding her footing in a short ledge.

“I had a nightmare-“ you gasped for air, “last night and when I woke up, I couldn’t move for a minute. It was super fucking scary but I don’t even remember it. Plus, look”

She looked up, pausing her climbing to peer at your held up hand. “What about it?” she asked, giving you a weird look.

“It’s not the engagement ring that he gave me, I’ve never even seen this ring before.” You stated plainly for her, watching her mull over her thoughts for a moment.

“So didj’ya wanna break out the Ouija board and ask the spirits about it or has the Assface been knocking you around enough for you to lose memory?” she sighed, tugging on her harness rope before descending slowly down the wall. The mixture of shock and irritation stunned you for a moment, did she really think…?

You pulled hard on the rope and slowly but surely you sort of caught up to her. “He would never hit me!” you hissed, “You saw me change, Willow. I don’t have any bruises or anything!”

“Right, he just verbally abuses you” she corrected herself with a bored tone.

You bit your lip, knowing she was right. What were you supposed to do? Leave him all on his lonesome with his depression? It’s not like you did any better when you were alone. Besides, you still loved him… you knew he was still in there somewhere.

“Well… anyways. The fucking thing won’t come off my finger no matter what I do. I plan to go to the jeweler about it after this if you could come with me…” you offered, pouting at her dramatically as both of your feet finally reached the soft mats.

She rolled her eyes, “You don’t have his actual engagement ring though, what do you plan to do about that?” The workers helped you both out of the harnesses and you stretched on the mat.

“I’ll tell him that I’m having it cleaned” you stated almost immediately.

She blinked at you, “The fact that you have an excuse lined up already from this morning should be a red flag for you.”

You sighed, and imitated her in a mocking tone. “I know, I know.”

 

* * *

 

You both changed quickly, Willow speeding over to the jeweler in record time. You still had about forty minutes, plenty of time to get a ring off. The bell to the front door twinkled loudly, an older man shuffling out of the back not long after.

“H-Hello ladies! What can I help you with today?” he asked sweetly, his voice rasped with age. You gave him a weak smile and showed him your hand.

“I cannot get this ring off no matter what I try, I was hoping that maybe you could help me with it?” you asked quietly, Willow already surveying the expensive jewels in the cases. The old man brought your hand closer and adjusted his glasses, his eyes growing wide at the ring.

“I haven’t seen a metal like that in…” he mumbled to himself, becoming incoherent. “Hold on one second, girlie”

You nodded as he turned to retreat into the back. Willow whistled low next to you, “That guy is old as farts” Her laugh bubbled in her throat as she tried to keep it down, making you crack a smile too.

“Be nice” you chided, looking at the large display of pamphlets near the register. There were a few for a small water park a bit south and the rest were for Mount Ebott. Your hand froze over the image of the mountain, that weird feeling creeping back into your chest. The old man returned and you forced yourself to get a grip.

He had a box of what looked like various tools and bottles. You side glanced Willow, “Uh, these won’t hurt me… right?” you asked, unsure of the old metal tools in his falling apart shoebox. He managed a tired ‘nope’ as he set the bottles on the glass counter.

He brought each bottle close to his face, you guessed to read the label, before he opened one and poured it on the finger. The goo made a mess on his counter but he didn’t seem to mind. He twisted the cap back on and disappeared into the back again. Your eyebrows scrunched at the mess on your hand, the ring didn’t feel any looser.

Willow reached out and tugged on the ring, eliciting a gasp from you. The goo had started to burn. The weird part was that the burn was in your chest instead of your skin. She pulled a little harder, your silent torment too much to breathe much less alert her. Your vision blurred, an earsplitting noise ringing through your mind as your wretched your hand away in a panic.

“Ow, fuck! What the hell was that!” you whined, shaking the goo off your hand desperately.

Willow gave you a weird look and at that point it seemed that the old man just wasn’t coming back. You glanced at your watch, noticing that you had run out of time anyway. Willow led the way out as you explained, glaring at the ring for causing you such pain.

 

* * *

 

You managed to make it back with some time to spare, enough to clean up in the restroom at the very least. Willow told you to keep her updated with the ring and tell her right away if any weird shit happened again. You would have no problem with that so long as you could hide in the bathroom to text her.

You took deep breaths as you walked to your desk, your lunch laid out as you left it. Except Anderson was waiting for you there. Fuck. Your heartrate increased and your eyes darted to the stairs, hoping he would be later than late.

You managed to give Anderson a meek smile when he greeted you, asking about the reports on a certain test subject that he lost data on. You nodded and hastily copied them to a flash drive, the god damn loading bar seeming to take eons. When it finally finished, you breathed a sigh of relief and went to hand it to Anderson when you heard the glass doors open.

Your stomach dropped and you shoved the USB in his hand, turning back to your computer to ignore him completely. You barely heard footsteps on the shitty carpet over the heartbeat in your eardrums. The bite of sandwich you took tasted like a slimy mass instead of turkey and cheese.

“Hey Anderson” he said nonchalantly, a hand clapping to his shoulder.

The younger guy winced, a look of irritation on his face as he nodded to him in acknowledgement before sauntering back to his desk. You swallowed the slime hard and tried to focus on steadying your hand.

“_______, look at me” he said quietly, leaning into your cubical more. You hesitantly locked eyes with him, instantly regretting it. He somehow seemed even more angry than this morning, if that was possible.

“I told you, no more of this shit.” He said evenly, walking away before you had a chance to say anything.

You let out a long shaken breath at the peace. It took hours for you to finally calm down, but by that time, he was back to go home. You shut down your computer and gathered your things quickly, so as not to make him wait. Even so, he tapped his foot on the thin carpet. You could feel a headache starting.

 

* * *

 

You both got home quickly, anger making him drive faster. The ache in your chest was worse this time, seeing the mountain in all its might. You tried to ignore it and chalk it up to day dreaming. You wouldn’t be going camping any time soon in this weather.

The day ended like any other it seemed and the routine helped keep your nerves in check as you cooked dinner. Spaghetti. For some reason the boiling noodles made you want to cry. Maybe you should have just gotten burgers on the way home? The thought of a greasy burger and fries made your chest ache more than the pasta and suddenly you weren’t very hungry anymore.

He seemed to notice this since you just kinda moved the noodles around on the plate. He sighed, “Y’know, you should eat. Wouldn’t want anyone thinking I don’t feed you or treat you right, huh?”

He said it more as a dare than a question, you realized. Today was getting old.

“You treat me fine” you murmured, trying not to gag on the small bite of noodles you forked. You tried not to pay him any mind, focusing more on the ‘how it’s made’ episode. If you could just relax…

“What. Is. That.” He ground out suddenly, shaking you from your zoned out state.

“What is what?” you asked defensively, cursing silently when he gripped your left arm and held it up.

“Where is your ring” he spat more than asked, studying the replacement with disgust.

“I-I’m getting it cleaned!” you whined, his fingers starting to dig into the flesh of your arm. You could easily twist out of this but you didn’t want to start a fight within a fight. He narrowed his eyes at your answer, pinching the replacement ring and attempting to pull it off.

“Then take this garbage off your hand, I don’t want anyone thinking you belong to anyone else. You hear me?” he barked, waiting for your response.

“I-I can’t get it off” you admitted quietly, fearing what would happen next.

He sneered at the ring, commanding you to “Hold still.” He twisted and pulled and wiggled the ring, getting angrier with each attempt. “God damn it, what did you do? Fucking super glue it?” he grumbled, irritation clear in his tone. He made a loud annoyed sound and pulled with what you guessed was all his strength.

You heard a pop, followed by pain in your knuckle. You whimpered immediately, his exasperated cursing covered by sobs deep in your chest. You watched the ring’s now navy color swirl with an even darker black as he attempted to pop your finger back into the socket.

He pulled you to his chest, petting your hair a little rougher than you would have liked. “How could you do this? How will you wear the wedding ring now? Don’t you love me?” he asked quietly, pain in his voice. The guilt bloomed in your chest for hurting him, plaguing you with more tears as you whispered apologies.

“I-I’m so sorry, Ryan”


	2. Reset

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again! I'm going to actually try doing a schedule of posting on Saturdays!  
> Kind of a shorter chapter, a little sad too.

This was it. The moment he had been waiting for. He knew it would come, someday. He just had to wait and get comfortable.

And here you were, bleeding out in his arms. His favorite hoodie soaked in your blood. Your eyes lifeless and dull, no longer holding the woman he loved.

He knew he was crying, he didn’t care. It was over. You were gone. Our baby, not fully there yet, would die as well. He was alone once again. It scared him how quickly he accepted this fate, how immediate the ache turned to numb.

He felt Papyrus’ hand on his shoulder, a silent reminder that he wasn’t completely alone. Just wife and childless. He choked out a laugh, finally getting the universe’s joke. It was him, it was always him. The biggest joke of them all. It must be laughing its ass off right now. Look at Sans and how close he got, how fucking stupid can you be?

He could almost hear the laugh track until he realized it was his own strangled laughter. He wondered how long he had been sitting here, being watched sorrowfully by his friends. Toriel had come too late, not that it was her fault. There was too much blood.

The kid huddled behind Undyne’s leg, wiping their snotty face into the back of her knees. He raised his eyes slightly to find the weed grasped tightly in Undyne’s hand. They had found him hiding in a nearby bush after everything ended. He looked sad but mostly afraid, like he should be.

Letting your body slide off his lap and to the ground delicately, he stood slowly. He was almost completely covered in blood. Taking a step forward, he found himself at eye level with Flowey. The flower cowered behind Undyne’s fingers, the fish woman surprised by his sudden closeness.

“I will remember this” he sighed ruefully, giving the flower a knowing look. “Remember that” he growled, forcing himself not to crush the thing. Flowey swallowed hard, seemingly understanding what he meant.

Kneeling low, he locked eyes with Frisk. The kid hadn’t stopped crying since their mom got there and the redness in their face was brighter than a tomato. The guilt and sorrow was clear in their soul, radiating off of them in waves.

“I need you to reset” he stated evenly, hoping to have a commanding tone in his voice. For a moment, everyone shifted uncomfortably. Frisk for mentioning resets and everyone else because he was sure that he sounded insane. They eyed him carefully, wincing when they peeked at your body on the ground.

They considered for longer than he would have liked, looking between all of their friends and adoptive mother. _What if it’s not the same?_ They signed warily, worry taking over their features. He dropped his head, shaking it dismissively toward the child.

“I sure fucking hope it is, kiddo” he ground out, gesturing to the blood he was covered in with a hysterical laugh. They winced, biting their lip as they took a deep breath.

They nodded. One ton was lifted off his shoulders. You could be alive again, have a chance to live until you were old. Find someone who wasn’t a monster. Who could protect you from shit less complicated than a possessive demon child.

He sighed in relief, running his red stained phalanges over his face. Frisk stepped away from Undyne’s leg, wrapping their arms around his neck in a hug. He gripped them back, a sob rattling in his chest.

Before he knew it, he felt the familiar feeling of endless darkness and falling before the whiplash hit him.

 

* * *

 

He jolted up in bed, loud knocking at his bedroom door. He blearily looked up from bed, hearing Papyrus yell to him about getting up for breakfast. Noticing the unnatural dim light filtering into the room from the window, his heart nearly stopped.

He searched his room all morning for some sort of clue that he had already found you only to come up empty. Of course he wouldn’t find you yet, humans didn’t even know that monsters existed. He growled to himself, aching to hold you. Just to see you. Anything.

 _This was your choice_. He told himself, adding that at least now he had a chance to find you again. That thought gave him hope, not much, but it was something. Even so, if this timeline was anything like the last one, he would have to wait at least two or three years.

The thought made his magic boil within him. He didn’t even know if Frisk was able to do it this time, much less if they were themselves. He groaned at the thought, the hope spilling out of his soul with each scenario. He ran a hand over his face, willing the questions to go away when he felt something odd.

The ring. His ring. It was still there? But how? He tested the band, trying to twist or pull it to get a closer look. But the thing wouldn’t move, much less come off. He sat on the edge of his old mattress, entranced by the jewelry. Here it was, his proof. His clue.

He watched the colors swirl in the stone, the teal green becoming darker as he watched. His brows knitted together, worry building in his chest at the sight. What if you were in danger? He wouldn’t- no, couldn’t be there to protect you. Then it would be all his fault. A small voice asked what if you died before he could find you, but he shook the thought quickly. The edges of color warbled in the stone before returning to normal, gentle waves of teal. He made a small ‘hm’ noise, making a mental note to visit Gerson about the old rings.

He went through his old motions, eating breakfast spaghetti and sleeping at the sentry station when he wasn’t watching the ring change colors. Which it did quite a bit. It worried him that most of the time they were getting darker, making the guilt almost unbearable. He brought a few bottles of hot sauce to drink at the station just in case.

 

* * *

 

He was napping at the sentry station when he suddenly felt an excruciating pain, sending him toppling to the ground with a shriek. He almost couldn’t breathe, the pain shooting through his chest and for a moment he wondered if he would dust. There was a sharp ringing in his skull before it stopped all together, leaving him panting on his hands and knees in the slush.

What the fuck was that? He thought immediately, pulling himself back on the stool. He checked his soul to find no damage, the only evidence being the sharp headache left behind. Instinctively, he checked the ring only to see a brighter turquoise than before.

Confused, he decided that visiting Gerson would have to happen sooner rather than later. He stepped from the stool, taking a few well-placed strides before feeling the sudden warm humidity of Waterfall. A shiver coursed through him as he found the old turtle’s cave.

The old man wasn’t much of a help, seeing as he never bonded with anyone. When he asked why, Sans simply told him it was for research. These were the times when his classical fake smile came in handy. The turtle narrowed his eyes at him before muttering to himself but Sans didn’t much care for what he thought. Gerson offered an old textbook on the topic of soul gems instead and shooed him out.

Sans hid the text under his jacket, a quick shortcut away from his room to read. He didn’t need Papyrus asking questions, even worse assuming he had a lover of any kind. He would no doubt tease him, trying to show him the correct ways to woo a mate. He was too drained for any of that, he wasn’t sure if he could stomach it. The reminder of not having you with him would kill him from the inside out.

 

* * *

 

Plopping down on his old mattress with a few squeaks, he opened the book and set to reading. It seemed that the rings locked onto a certain bond, though the book didn’t touch on multidimensional effects. Once the bond was complete and the stones in place, either mate would forever be linked through the stone. In other words, you couldn’t take it off either. He wondered how that was going for you.

He read further, learning that the swirling colors within the gem were directly correlated with the emotions and state of the other mate’s soul. He had known part of that, the soul part. He wondered if the darker parts in the gem meant that you were sad or in danger. He snapped himself back into focus and read faster.

The longer the two mates were separated, the more the rings called for another. Now that was interesting. He wondered if you felt the need to visit the mountain, picturing you stumbling up the trail and saying hello to all the trees on your way. For a moment, he hoped you would wait for him, knowing that any human in the underground would be dangerous even with his word.

A few pages passed about the differences between the type of jewelry used to harness the gems, giving information about necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. He turned the page to find a guide on the colors. His breath caught in his throat as he read. Darkness in a soul gem meant fear and desperation. The darker it became, the more depressed or fearful the mate was.

He swallowed, glancing at the ring to find that it was now a deep navy. Black tendrils licked at the edges, making Sans’ nonexistent skin crawl. He read further, not putting down the book until he had memorized every single meaning of the colors. By then the sky was a matching indigo to his ring, the guilt and anxiety over the color almost making him sick.

Had he done this to you? Brought you back for some sort of hell worse than what had already happened? If that was the case, he wasn’t sure if he wanted Frisk to make it through. Maybe they’d just reset early this time and try again. Maybe you could have a better chance. He sighed shallowly, the pain in his chest making it hard to get the air in.

Glancing at the time on his old clock, it was well past one in the morning. Even so, he knew he had to finish if he was to sleep at all tonight. He rubbed at his sockets and turned to the next section reluctantly, worried for more bad news.

He read quickly, needing the information to become absorbed faster than his lights could follow the faded letters. The section dealt with soul gem warnings of a sort. How to properly link a soul to a chosen gem, the dangers of doing so incorrectly. Side effects of wearing a soul gem, which were few and far in between seeing as you were human. They could be anything, though the list for monster side effects stretched down the page.

Though he had never had any side effects, nor noticed any from you, he read each one. Some were painful, others not as noticeable. None of them seemed overly life threatening to him, just a small irritation or stutter. The next page listed remedies for said side effects, most being potions or herbal salves. He dog eared the page, wondering if you were having any in this timeline and decided it would be good to have the information at hand.

He turned the page again to find warnings about removing the soul gems. The very first sentence advised against removing the gem unless it was a life or death situation. The methods included dissolving the metal casing for the gem or cutting off the limb attached to it. He swallowed at that, though expected. If you weren’t supposed to remove it, it would make sense that you would have to act drastically.

Reading ahead, it advised again to not remove it on multiple occasions. The book named only a few outcomes of removing the stone: death, soul absorption, soul splintering, soul separation, and hollowing. Just reading the words made Sans on edge, none of them were particularly savory. He clutched at his chest, feeling the phantom pain of his soul splintering or shattering all together.

The one outcome that puzzled him was the hollowing. He had never heard of that, but when he read the passage to describe it… he almost wished he hadn’t. It seemed that hollowing was a term used for when a soul lost its color or luster, making the soul hollow but keeping the monster or human alive. He shivered at the thought of you with no life in your eyes, no emotion or purpose. Luckily there had only been two accounts of this happening, so long ago that he was calmed somewhat.

The book ended with one final passage about the soul gems having the power to strengthen one another’s souls when near each other. He nodded to himself in affirmation, remembering how bright your soul had shined after just a few months of living together. He missed the calming teal green color of it, how small it felt in his hands. The wide eyed look you got every time he kissed the glass-like surface.

He shook his head with a sigh, anger flooding him suddenly. He should be with you! Up there, under the stars and you should be in his arms. He threw the book at his dresser with a growl, the book thwaping against the old wooden drawers. Curling into himself, he cradled the ring in his hand and watched the colors (or lack thereof) swirl in the gem again. Angry tears fell on his hand, the helplessness overwhelming him.

 

He didn’t fall asleep that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow the tumblr for this fic here:  
> ondayslikethesefuku.tumblr.com


	3. Stronger

You sat on the couch in utter silence, your lip trembling from the threat of tears. The TV off, the living room silent except for the loud thumps and footsteps in the bedroom. You dared not look toward the hall, afraid he would appear any moment and your resolve would break. Your mind warred over whether to become numb or let yourself deal with the pain embedded in your chest. Both hands gripped the cushion, the tough material nearly making your hands cramp.

  
The sound of a suitcase dropping to the floor shook the apartment, startling you in your seat. You bit your lip to keep the involuntary sob in, loud footsteps heading down the hall. Steeling yourself, you adverted your eyes to the floor.

Ryan walked in, a loud whacking sound coming from the heavy suitcase he threw on the coffee table in front of you. You winced, not moving your eyes from the suitcase bulging with your belongings.

  
“Here’s your shit” he said bitterly, nearly throwing the words at you. You swallowed, using the last of your strength to push yourself off the couch. Turning to grip the handle of the suitcase and heave it off the table, you stayed silent. You didn’t trust your voice to have any sort of strength right now.

  
The bag thudded to the floor next to you and you wheeled it toward the door, Ryan moving out of your way completely. You were barely out of the door when you turned around slightly to say something, only to find the door shutting in your face. You lip trembled again, a deep breath shooing it away for a moment.

  
Fishing in your pocket, you carefully grabbed your phone so as not to cut yourself on the now almost completely shattered screen. Ryan had thrown it against the wall again, making it hard to touch the screen without cutting your fingers.

Somehow you had managed to press Willow’s number, putting the call on speakerphone to avoid glass in your cheek. The hall was empty, same for the elevator as you pressed the ground floor button and listened to the phone ringing quietly in the small space.

  
She picked up after a few rings, managing a tired ‘hello’ that ended in a yawn. It was almost 1:30 in the morning so you didn’t blame her for the yawn. You cleared your throat, sucking in a breath.

  
“H-hey Willow” you tried greeting normally. “Are you home?” you asked meekly, fidgeting with the suitcase handle.

  
“Yeah, what’s going on?” she asked, a little more alert this time. You took a few deep breaths, not wanting to speak the words out loud. The tears fought to fall on your cheeks and you lifted your eyes to the ceiling, forcing them to stay as you sniffled.

  
Your chest felt heavy as you swallowed, “Ryan… h-he kicked me out.”

  
There was a pause before shuffling noises, “Stay in the lobby, I’ll be there in a few minutes” she said hurriedly.

The call cut out, leaving you in silence until the beep of the elevator signaled the end of your ride. The lobby was empty save for the door guard, blearily glancing in your direction as you sat on the bench near the door.

  
He looked you over for a moment and you gave him a weak smile before he turned his gaze back to the street outside. You tried to ignore the pain in your chest, welcoming the numbing feeling that was taking over instead.

Your hands rested in your lap, fidgeting far from your mind as you turned your hand over to check on your finger. Ryan had tried to cut the ring off with a plethora of tools, cutting into your finger in a few spots.

The color of the ring had changed to a darker blue, reminding you of the ocean. The blood was dried at least, the only evidence being the small cuts littering your ring finger.

  
A loud honk shook you from your thoughts as well as the guard, who cleared his throat and stood straighter in his spot. Willow jumped out of her Jeep right outside the door as you wheeled your suitcase through the door.

You were barely out the door before Willow grabbed you into a hug. Laughing a little hysterically, you hugged back lightly. You were never good with confronting your emotions like this.

  
“I’m so sorry, _______” she murmured into your hair, a hand rubbing your back.

  
You shrugged uneasily, “I-it’s okay” you replied quietly, the tears threatening to fall yet again as your voice cracked under the pressure.

  
“No it’s not” she stated with finality, the words spoken aloud forcing your tears to roll down your cheeks at last.

  
She pulled away, looking over you for a minute and you realized she was looking for any sign of physical abuse. Before you could say anything, she took the handle of your suitcase and wheeled it toward the Jeep. You followed closely, wiping your face with your jacket sleeve and opening the back for her as she lifted it into the trunk.

  
She closed the trunk door, patting the back of your shoulder. “Come on, girlie. Let’s go home.” She said quietly, giving you a small smile. You smiled back weakly, rounding the car and hopping in the passenger seat.

  
The drive was fine enough, Willow had turned on music and held your hand the whole way to her apartment complex. You found yourself staring out the window, not needing to see the mountain to feel where it was. It seemed that each time you passed it, your chest ached for the tall trees and slight breeze you imagined.

  
As the tall skyscraper loomed over her Jeep, you guessed that if anything good came out of this, at least her apartment would be nicer than yours. Willow had always told you that she would love to have you as a roommate, though you knew it was a hint that you would have somewhere to go if you ever left Ryan.

You wondered how long that offer would last.  
She drove the Jeep down into the parking garage and before you knew it, you were in the elevator up to her apartment. The elevator was silent for a bit except for the beeping at each floor.

“You can stay as long as you want, you know.” She mentioned, watching you as you nodded. She nodded to herself, the elevator doors opening to her floor.

  
Her apartment was huge, you almost forgot since you hadn’t been there in what felt like years. The windows stretched tall, showing the twinkling lights of the city through the drapes. Everything was so modern and updated, though the couch looked really uncomfortable. You hoped for your sake that it was more comfortable than it looked, worried that your back would ache for however long you stayed here.

  
She threw her keys on the coffee table, “This’a’way, little lady” she drawled jokingly. You followed her down a hallway to the right of the front door, passed what you guessed was her room and a bathroom. She opened the door at the end of the hall, flipping on the light and rolling your suitcase against a bare wall.

  
“Well, this is my guest room. But it can be your room now. No one’s slept in those sheets, so they’re clean. The remote for the TV is in the nightstand drawer and you can use the closet, just not the dresser ‘cause it’s for storage of research and what not.” She explained, glancing around the room to make sure she didn’t forget anything.

  
You plopped down on the bed, surveying the room with a mixture of emotions. You had expected to just sleep on the couch… but here you were in a bedroom of your own. The soft quilt underneath you smelled of lilacs and was littered with patterns of flowers. It made you feel at home, even if you were technically alone.

“Thank y-you” you sputtered, tears rolling down your face with a vengeance.

  
She quickly sat next to you on the bed, pulling you into a hug and hushing your broken sobs. You weren’t sure how long you sat there with her but it was long enough to kink your back. Your nose and eyes were raw, chest muscles tense and sore from sobbing.

  
“Do y’wanna make some hot cocoa and watch a Disney movie like old times?” she asked lightly, rubbing your arm. Your lips twitched into a small smile at the thought, nodding to her as your chest lightened ever so slightly.

  
After the cocoa and popcorn was gone, the movie over, you both cleaned up and headed to bed. Willow insisted that if you needed her at any time throughout the night to wake her up, she ‘didn’t give a shit’ what it was about. You agreed with a laugh, stretching under your sheets to get comfortable. You fell asleep easier than you had thought, even as you wondered how you deserved Willow as a friend.

* * *

 

You woke from many nightmares throughout the night, tossing and turning in the pitch black of your room. Each time you managed to go back to sleep, the comfort of knowing Willow was in the next room was enough to make you feel safe.

Somehow, even with all the interruptions, you got a decent amount of sleep. You were groggy still as the alarm on your phone beeped loudly. Carefully turning off the alarm, you crawled out of bed.

  
It was bizarre getting ready with Willow here, the tangle of flat iron and blow drier cords. Her music blaring in the bathroom as she danced and did her makeup.

You envied her and how many freedoms she had until you realized that you also had them now. The clothes in your suitcase held a new purpose now and you found an old dress you had been dying to wear.

  
It almost felt alien, wearing something that didn’t completely cover you like Ryan insisted. You were already ready for work, an old professional dress coming up to your knees with a neckline that showed a little collarbone. You tried to ignore how the dress that used to be tight now hung loosely on your shoulders. Hair pulled into a ponytail since you had no idea what else to do with it anymore, you twisted the ends in your fingers as you leaned against the door frame.

  
“Hey, do you want me to do your makeup?” she asked casually, straightening the ends of her shoulder length hair. You glanced at her bag of makeup, powder dusting the fabric from use. “It’s okay if you don’t want to” she added quickly, peering at you with a hint of worry now.

Your first thought was of the trouble you would cause with Ryan before you realized it didn’t matter anymore.

  
You nodded, swallowing your tears at the reminder that you were alone now. Willow seemed excited as she tossed the straightener to the side and motioned you to sit on the toilet lid.

You and Willow used to watch makeup tutorials on Youtube long before Ryan had shown interest in you. Sleepovers usually ended with both of you looking like you were going to head to the club and you realized that you really missed the feeling of it all.

  
Willow busied herself with your makeup while you fidgeted with your hands, the cuts around your finger turning a darker brown now. The ring hadn’t changed much save for a slightly brighter hue to it today. The change in colors made you wonder what they meant, hoping it wasn’t just some shitty mood ring.

  
You sighed, wondering how you were going to face the lab after what happened. What if he talked to you? Ignored you? Which would be worse? What if he still tried to control you? What if he yelled at you in front of your coworkers about your dress and makeup?  
The questions flew through your mind and before you knew it, Willow was finished. She stepped back to admire her handiwork, giving you a grimace after a moment.

  
“Ya know… if you keep scrunching your face up like that, it’ll give you wrinkles.” She chided, poking you in the shoulder as she cleaned up the makeup. You gave her a half-hearted shrug, not really caring about wrinkles.

  
“I know that you’re still hurting over him but it’ll be better for you if you just try not to worry about him. Just completely push him from your mind.” She offered, her expression turning more concerned. You nodded, knowing full well that it would take time to get used to feeling like… this.

  
Slowly but surely you made it to the car, the morning becoming a blur of emotions as you watched the scenery pass by. It felt like you were numbly going along in a slow motion cloud, the realization of being totally and completely alone finally hitting you like a freight train. There were no more comforting touches or kisses, no more cuddles or date nights.

  
Willow stopped at the traffic light, a bus stop rolling into view. Your thoughts were so diluted, you almost didn’t see the small child sitting on the bench under the clear overhang. Their hair was a damp mop of brown, hanging over their striped sweater. They swung their legs absently, their socks and shoes covered in a thin layer of dirt that traveled up their calves.

  
Your breath caught in your throat when they lifted their eyes, the rims of them tinted a bright red from probably crying. Their gaze lifted to meet yours, a sort of determination in their expression like you had never seen before. Suddenly their expression shifted to something different… something like recognition? Your heart felt like it was beating out of your chest.

  
The child stood up immediately, looking like they were about to bolt to the car. Luckily, the traffic light turned and Willow sped off.

You wondered what the hell that was about, why they looked at you that way. What did they want? Money? You remembered the wet hair and muddy shoes, figuring they were homeless. It still didn’t explain the way they looked at you…

  
Before you could think on it longer, Willow was whipping into her spot. She walked you to your desk, shooing away anyone that gave you a weary look. Resetting your speed dial with her number as number one, she patted your shoulder.

  
“I’ll see you at lunch, okay?” she offered, peering around the office for Ryan, you guessed.

  
“Okay” you croaked, trying to ignore the stares from everyone in the vicinity. Willow left for her office then, a deep breath slightly helping with your new headache.

  
You glanced at the ring, surprised to find the stone a shade lighter. No matter what tools Ryan used on the metal band, it never stretched or moved.

Looking closer, you found that the metal hadn’t even been scratched. The band had small engravings, flowing lines turning into swirls around the stone. Tracing the lines, you ended on the deep aqua stone in the center. You pressed your finger to the stone, an electric shock jolting up your arm.

  
Reeling backward, you sucked on your finger. “Ow, what the f-“ you sputtered, a hand slamming on your desk before you could finish. Your brow scrunched at the hand laying on your desk, gaze following the arm to find Ryan sneering down at you.

  
“Nice outfit, heading to the strip club after work?” he nearly spat at you, your heart aching in your chest as you gulped from his words.

You lowered your head, glancing at the duffle bag under your desk. Not answering him, you grabbed the handles and stepped out of the cubicle. You could ditch work for one day, the gym might be the best place for you anyways. He would never find you there.

  
Ryan called after you, footsteps thudding behind. Tugging your bag close to you, you bee-lined toward Willow’s office. You tried to ignore his venomous words, tears welling in your eyes.

Willow’s office was in eyesight now even though you could hear him getting closer. Without warning, he clamped a hand down on your shoulder, yanking you backward.

  
You didn’t even think about it before arching your arm behind his head, flipping him over your shoulder. You gasped immediately, muttering apologies and backing away as he groaned on the floor. Willow opened the door to her office, the phone she held to her ear falling to the floor. She rushed to your side, helping you up to your feet.

  
“Hey, are you okay?” she asked in a hushed tone, calming slightly when you nodded. Still holding your elbow, she rounded on Ryan.   
“What the hell are you doing in my offices?” she demanded, watching him slowly pull to his feet.

  
He huffed, “Oh, you know, just sayin’ hi to my girl.”

  
Your nose wrinkled in disgust at his tone, Willow scoffing next to you.

  
“Drop the shit, Ryan.” She snapped, “_____ has been defending your ass for way too long. Now that you’ve kicked her out over a damn piece of jewelry, you don’t own her. You don’t get to say shit to her.”

  
You felt yourself subconsciously side stepping behind Willow, trying to hide behind her strength. Ryan looked angry as usual but also… uneasy? He peered around the office, most people popping their heads up from behind the cubical walls to watch the scene unfold.

  
His laughter sounded forced, “I don’t know what you mean, Mrs. Dormuir. I was only asking _____ to dinner tonight.”

  
“That’s bullshit!” you blurted, Willow’s grip tightening on your arm a bit. His gaze seemed to darken at your words.

  
“Get out of my offices, now. I suggest that if you don’t want me to tell Mr. Pierce about your behavior that you stay there.” She said coolly, his face draining of color.

  
He gave you a last glance of anger before turning on his heel to leave, straightening his tie on the way out.

  
“All right, everyone. Our next theater performance is at 8:30 in the break room in two weeks.” She called, receiving a few laughs as the staff slowly returned their attention to work.

  
“Lemme just tell Marcus and we can get out of here” she mumbled, leading you to her office quickly. You waved to her assistant, Marcus, and sat in her ‘waiting room’.

  
She came out a few moments later carrying her own duffle bag along with everything else. Marcus bolted up from his chair, running a hand through his scruffy hair to smooth it.

  
“Stepping out for a moment, Mrs. Dormuir?” he asked politely, glancing at his computer screen every so often.

  
“Marcus, I’m taking a sick day. Be sure that Ryan Bishop does not step foot in these offices. I’ll be back tomorrow.” She explained with a sigh, digging through her purse for her keys.

  
He nodded briskly and sat back down, fingers clacking busily on the keyboard as you left.   
You tried to ignore how angry Willow seemed, even as she slammed the door to her Jeep closed. She hadn’t even said anything before she sped off toward the gym, the mountain becoming a blur next to the road.

  
Looking through the slight fog to peer at the mountain, you felt the now familiar pull on your chest. It was such a dangerous and looming land mass, the city refused to even build on it. They were afraid of it.

  
You felt so small in its shadow, so weak and afraid. What happened to you? Why were you so weak and worthless? You couldn’t even stand up to Ryan, Willow had to do it for you.

  
You remembered the child you saw this morning, dirty and wet. Probably hungry and homeless… and yet they were so determined. They looked so… strong.

  
If a child could be that determined… why couldn’t you? You could be strong. The ring on your finger seemed to vibrate at this newfound motivation. Almost like it wanted you to be strong too.

  
You stared down at the bright blue stone with a small smile, determination taking over your features.

  
You would be strong.

 

 


	4. On The Fritz

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about not posting a chapter last week but I'm back!  
> This one is a little short but I promise we're getting to the goods ; )

_**BANG BANG** _

_**BANG BANG** _

The gun jolted in your hands, clammy palms gripping it tightly. You counted down the rounds, rolling to a crouch behind a hay bale to reload. Your ears rang even though the huge ear protectors, the bullets speeding to meet their end in the paper men at the other side of the range.

Letting the empty cartridge fall to the ground, you reloaded the pistol with another cartridge from your belt. You leaned away from the bale, spying another paper man nearly 40 yards away. You aimed quickly, the familiar jolt in your arms stinging as the shots rang out. You had been here for nearly three hours now, shooting in the outdoor part of the range near the freeway.

It had been a month. A whole entire month without Ryan. You managed to find a small and unsurprisingly shitty apartment near Willow, not that you were there often. Any time you weren’t at work or sleeping you could be found at the gym or the shooting range. Your trainers had been amazed at how well you did, being so small. You had even earned your black belt and bought your own gun for protection. The exercise helped, even though you still didn’t feel ‘strong’.

Willow was worried as usual… but you hardly talked to her since moving out. In fact, you hardly talked to anyone since you and Ryan broke up. The anxiety and depression that lingered before had now blossomed into weekly full blown mental breakdowns. Seeing Ryan at work didn’t help, the dark circles under his red eyes stirring the guilt in your chest.

In a way, you had become numb to all of it at this point. Most of the time, you simply zoned out during exercises. Sometimes… you would focus on the ever present ring, the colors swirling and changing daily. You had taken almost every self-defense and fighting class available at the gym and even a couple survival classes when those ran out.

You had hoped that the classes, the knowledge and the muscles you built from them would make you feel the safety you wanted. Regardless, you still felt on edge… that feeling of ‘wrong’ never leaving you. The nightmares never let up, late nights filled with panic attacks and smoke breaks on the balcony. You were falling apart, you knew that… but what could you do?

Putting the gun in your holster, you grabbed the paper men from their holders and started toward the exit. A headache started in your temple as it began to rain, reminding you of the homeless kid you saw before. You tried not to think about it as you drove your shitty $500 car back to your apartment. Maybe they found a shelter? Yeah, happy thoughts…

The paper men found their place on your coffee table, your jacket following suit. You supposed you should eat something but couldn’t find a taste for anything in your kitchen. Guess it’s nothing for dinner again. You sighed, plopping down on the old futon and pressing the heels of your hands into your eyes in hopes that you would wipe away this overly shitty situation you were stuck in.

It didn’t work though, not that you really expected it to. The black spots in your vision faded as the familiar ache in your muscles became more noticeable. You moved your jacket over to glance at the paper men, there were a few holes near the shoulders and neck but most had hit the head dead center. You smiled weakly to yourself, at least you were getting better. That was something… right? Somewhat satisfied with your day, you laid back into the cushions and turned on the TV to something mind numbing, your eyelids becoming heavier as you dozed off to Rachel Ray.

 

* * *

 

 

Everything was dark. No… not dark… empty. And black, endlessly black. It was terrifying and claustrophobic, your own hands empty of color. You tried to move forward, anywhere away from there, only to find that you couldn’t hear your footsteps. You couldn’t hear anything actually… you froze in fear when you realized you couldn’t hear your heartbeat. No breathing. No noise at all. Just empty blackness that seemed to go on forever.

Panicked, you whipped your head around in all directions to find something… anything that signaled a way out. Before you could take a step, your ears began to ring painfully. At first you believed it was from the lack of sound… that is until you saw a bright white hand forming from nothing a few feet away.

A lump formed in your throat as you watched in horror, knowing screaming would do nothing for your situation. From behind the hand formed an arm, connected to a sludge-like mass that was somehow darker than the pitch black around you. It almost hurt to look at it, nearly disappearing to your eye.

The other arm grew a hand as well, blinding white in the absolute dark. Like a veil, the slightly darker creature pulled back the lighter darkness to reveal a face of some kind. You resisted the urge to back pedal, the creature’s face coming into focus as a cracked skull of some kind. It looked… sad.

“Am I in hell?” you saw more than heard, the letters seeming to float above you. Entranced by your new found ability to see words, you almost didn’t notice the creature moving its hands.

“No, child” the words floated above it, moving like smoke on the breeze. You watched the words float away until they disappeared and slowly turned back to the sludge monster. So it could talk?

“What are you?” you asked, watching the creature tilt its head at the smoke-like words. It closed its eyes for a moment, hands held hesitantly in front of itself.

“I am a friend of a friend that you have forgotten about. I have come to steer you in the right direction, child.” He signed carefully.

You eyed him incredulously, trying to figure out his words. Who had you forgotten that would have anything to do with a blob dude? What was this all about anyway? Did it have something to do with your ring? The ring!

“Do you know anything about this ring?” you asked hurriedly, thankful that you had remembered.

He snaked his body closer and you tried your best not to lean away from him in disgust. He peered at your ring with fascination, a look of glee now plastered on the melting skull before you. “You will find out in time, be patient, little one.” He assured you, moving back to his previous position. “All you need to know now is to go to Mount Ebott.”

Your heart pounded in your chest and your hand flew up to meet it, a feeling of _right_ washing over you. “How do you know?” you asked, astonished.

He shook his head, a faint smile cracking on his features. “I will explain when we meet again… Say hello to Sans for me, will you? Good luck, my dear." He signed with finality. His hands crossed each other before he waved his arms in a circle, bringing the darkness back over himself like a curtain. You felt the darkness around you suddenly begin to quicken, like a treadmill you had set way too high before you fell into nothing.

 

* * *

 

 

You woke with a start, kicking the coffee table with your sneaker hard enough to knock all the papers on the floor. You gasped for air like you hadn’t tasted it in years as the words from the blob replayed in your mind over and over again.

What the fuck was that! You rubbed your face with vigor, trying to erase the feeling of overwhelming darkness. Sitting up, you grabbed your jacket, thankful that you were still wearing shoes. You needed fresh air, right this second.

It was still somewhat dark out as you left the building, the morning sun just barely coming over the mountain that the blob had wanted you to visit. The pull from it was stronger today, you noticed. You shoved your hands in your coat pockets, the early morning air causing your breath to be visible. It reminded you of the dream again.

You shoved it out of your mind and kept a brisk pace to nowhere. It was just a dream, there are no such things as blob monsters or whatever the fuck that was. Absentmindedly, you played with the ring before realizing what you were doing and cursed under your breath. God damn it, distract yourself! You grunted, pulling out the wad of stiff paper that you were fidgeting with from your jacket pocket.

“Are you fucking kidding me” you hissed to yourself, clenching the Mount Ebott brochure in your hands. You had almost forgot about grabbing it from the jeweler. With a sigh, you opened it and looked at the camping information.

It seemed decent enough, maybe you could get some answers? No… this was crazy. There were no monsters. It was just a dream. This ring is just very very stuck. The mountain just seems like a nice place to camp. That’s all there is to it. Nothing more and nothing less.

You lowered the crumpled piece of paper to look up at the mountain, its shadow looming high over the city. It almost reminded you of the infinite darkness. You cringed and stared at it for a bit longer.

“Fuck it!” you growled, raising your middle finger to the mountain in an act of defiance. “You want me to go camping so god damn badly, I’ll go fucking camping. I’ll be the god damn world champion at camping. You’ll see, you big fucking pile of rocks…” you grumbled angrily at it, turning down the street toward the outdoor emporium.

 

* * *

 

 

The cashier was bug-eyed at how much you managed to shove into your cart. Sure, you’d be a little lighter in the bank but you supposed that your time away from the gym might compensate for it. You bought a large hiking backpack and filled it with every single necessity you could think of from knives and granola bars to smokes and a larger flask. If you were gonna have to deal with some weird ass stuff on a mountain, you might as well be buzzed.

The cart was filled with a multitude of other items you deemed ‘might need’ like rock climbing gear, leg holsters and a utility belt, and a new outfit among other things. Work was already alerted to your absence and the gym membership was on halt. You felt prepared as the teenager rang you up for the items, trying to remember how many ammo boxes you had stashed in the apartment. A certain level of motivation and excitement overcame you as you carried out your heavy bags, something akin to… **determination**.


	5. Quiet Moments

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit short but the best is on its way

He was losing it. He knew it, though he was terrified Paps was catching on. The ring was all he could think about, the first thing he saw in the morning and the last at night.

His nightmares returned with a vengeance, plunging him into a depression he hadn’t seen since before the last reset. He knew it took months for Frisk to make it to the underground but damn him if he wasn’t impatient.

  
All he could think about was how dark the colors had become. How dark the stone had stayed for weeks now. It didn’t help that he was getting next to no sleep from nightmares only to wake up to a nearly pitch black imitation of your soul. He could only guess what type of hell you were going through, constantly refreshing his guilt over resetting.

  
A small voice reminded him that at least you were alive, at least he could still find you. That voice was almost always quieted by his internal rebuttal of ‘at what cost?’. The war that waged inside his skull was quiet but he figured it showed in more ways than one. Especially with the way Papyrus tip-toed around him now.

  
He barely ate, only when he could feel his magic dwindling enough that he couldn’t teleport. His puns at this point were… lackluster to say the least. What was the point with you in such obvious pain, wherever you were? Who was he to have fun and laughs when you could very well be suffering?

  
Papyrus tried to help him, cooking ‘special’ spaghetti and even sitting through his puns. He knew from the way his brother looked at him that there was no trickery anymore. He laughed to himself at the thought. Hundreds of resets where the kid had brutally murdered everyone and here he was, in shambles over a human.

  
His laugh bubbled out, turning his hysterical smile into a slight frown. What was he saying? You were just a human as much as Frisk was… You were his wife, are his wife. The mother of his… child. His soul tightened at the thought, the image of your blood soaked body in his arms. You were everything to him… and nothing, not across all of time and space could change that.

  
Hell, he even picked up his sock from the floor, knowing that it was a pet peeve of yours in the last timeline. Now that had worried Paps. He couldn’t help it though, just the thought of you walking into his house and feeling at home made it all the more bearable to be apart from you. Like any moment you’d walk through the door and give him that knowing smile when you saw the sock in the hamper.

  
The mental image made him smile inwardly. Every now and then he’d think of what you’d say about him lazing around in his room, how you’d kiss up his jaw when he had a nightmare, or how you’d reply to a pun he thought of. He laughed a little, thinking of your irritated scowl when he said a few too many puns. You’d claim he was giving the baby bad ideas and they weren’t even born yet.

  
But most of all… he just missed you. He was all alone again, not that the tether on your souls had helped any. Every so often he could feel a pull on his soul from above, giving him an ounce of hope. He wondered if you were near the mountain, feeling the pull as well. Wondering how long it would take for him to finally be free of this prison and find you.

  
He sighed and rubbed his phalanges against his sockets, hoping to wipe away the nightmares that lingered there. He might as well go to work, if not to get out of the house then at least to satiate Papyrus. With a grunt, he lifted his tired form from the mattress and shrugged on a hoodie. His room was dark but he didn’t need to see to know that it was more of a wreck than usual.

  
He carefully stepped over the trash on his floor to creak open the door, finding the house quiet. Paps had stopped yelling him awake for a week now, he figured he noticed his dark circles and was silently thankful for his perception. The guilt in his chest stirred a bit, knowing his brother shouldn’t have to worry about him. Still, he was thankful for the quiet mornings to will himself out of bed.

  
The coffee maker hummed with hot water, dripping noises filling the quiet kitchen. Papyrus must have already left to calibrate his puzzles or train with Undyne, he figured. Sighing into his disposable coffee cup, he shuffled into his usual pink house slippers. He strained his lights at the familiar shoes, silently wishing they were the ones you had painted for him.

  
He made his way through the snow storm, tiredly sipping from the coffee cup. Another day of sitting at his sentry station, waiting for Frisk and staring at the ring. He was so excited he could barely contain himself. Even he rolled his lights internally at that.

  
All through town, everyone went about their day as usual. Smiles and laughter, the little ones playing games near the Christmas tree. It almost made him feel worse. Regardless, he threw on his regular fake smile and meandered toward the edge of Snowdin.

  
The snow was coming down hard now, enough that he almost had to squint to see past the large flakes. In the distance, he could barely make out a small form stumbling through the snow. His soul leapt at the sight and the coffee cup tumbled to the snow, forgotten.

  
He rushed toward the form, his soul tightening ever so slightly when he saw it was Frisk. He snapped himself out of his disappointment, helping the kid to their feet. ‘_______ wouldn’t come down here, stop this’ he told himself.

  
“Heya kiddo, looks like you’re chilled to the bone” he quipped, his trademark smile dissipating in record time when the kid lifted their tearstained gaze to meet his.

  
They hiccupped a sob, raising their hands to sign shakily. “Toriel. Mean person fell. Gun.”  
His breathing hitched, lights immediately going out.

  
“ _ **W h e r e**_ ”


	6. The Fall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay things are happening!!

It was a fresh morning when you headed out for the mountain. The sun was barely meeting the sky behind the giant land mass and birds were chirping happily from their branches. You took a deep gulp of air before you boarded the bus, the hiking pack on your back filled to the brim with anything you would need.

Must have been quite the sight, a smaller girl on the city bus complete with every sort of tool belt and holster. Light black scarf tied around your neck and protection goggles on your crown, backpack nearly the size of another person. Your thick jacket with combat boots and tactical skin tight pants. You must have looked like some sort of army veteran or a SWAT team member. You tried not to laugh at the expression on some of the other bus goers’ faces and instead focused on the sights out the window.

The bus ride wasn’t a long one, seeing as they dropped you off a few blocks away from the base of the mountain. It didn’t take long for you to check in with their friendly camping director either as she was moderately helpful. Emilie? You thought her name was, gave you a sense of déjà vu. You shook it off, only looking back once as you headed toward the trails.

You need to be ready, you reminded yourself, stopping to get everything in the right pockets. Bringing your 2 handguns made you feel safer… at least a little bit, considering you were camping alone on a mountain where many people have gone missing. You also thought of the wildlife, wondering if there were bears in the area or even big cats of some kind. Shaking your head, you tried to forget about all that. Only in emergencies. You wouldn’t need them.

Unloading your guns from your backpack to your leg and hip holsters, you stared up at the looming rocky structure. So thankful for bringing your climbing gloves. Once the ammo, grappling hook, and other assorted items were in the batman belt (as you liked to call it), you swung your backpack over your shoulders and clicked the straps together.

Regardless of if it was just a dream, you did feel an overwhelming feeling of ‘right’ being here. Maybe the goo monster was just your subconscious telling you that it really _really_ wanted to go camping. You scoffed openly at your inner musings, knowing it still didn’t explain the ring or the name he gave you.

_Sans._

Just thinking the name made your heart squeeze. You took a deep breath, reaching the first of your climb. This is just a way to clear your head and maybe do some soul searching. Forget about everything else and just _be_ in nature, god damn it.

Your newfound anger at your mental state gave you the determination to scale the first cliff of the massive rock with ease. You huffed as you reached a landing, planting your butt on the edge to let your feet dangle. It was such a liberating feeling, being this high up above the city. They looked like ants. Tiny, noisy, asshole ants.

After your break, you lifted the lighter scarf over your mouth and adjusted the goggles over your eyes. The rock was sandstone in places, making dust fly into your face with every hand placement. It wasn’t the greatest time, sputtering and blinking out dust and dead grass. This at least shielded you from that bullshit.

The mountain seemed to level out here though, sort of swooping up into even taller climbs. It was beautiful, untouched by man and brimming with life. A doe stood nearby, idly chewing on some berries and paying no mind to you. Intrigued, you stepped closer, hoping to maybe just maybe pet the animal. Your life would be complete, you’d be snow white and just live in the forest.

You crept closer, keeping your eyes on the spritely doe as you took one step at a time. She didn’t seem to care about your presence, not even running away when your footing slipped and the ground crumbled under your left foot. You squeaked, gripping onto the dewy grass with all your might to avoid falling down this unseen hole.

Grunting, you dug your fingers into the dirt and reached around with your other hand to get the grappling hook from your belt. It took two attempts but you somehow managed to lodge the hook deep into a sturdy feeling chunk of earth. You hooked the ending of the long tether to your belt in three places and gripped the rope, attempting to pull yourself up onto the cliff.

Your foot dangled below you, searching for purchase in the cliff side. The rubber sole of your boot found a small ledge for leverage, pushing you further up onto the grass. You huffed, secretly angry at the deer for just standing there and eating its berries. Not that it could do much else.

The rock under your boot loosened, sending you falling backward, the rope burning your hands through the gloves. In a panic, you choked out a gasp, gripping the rope as hard as you could. The fall ended in whiplash, your panting echoed against the cavern walls as your body flailed at the end of the rope. Your heart was pounding in your ears as you gulped in air.

Looking down the hole you had accidentally fallen down, you see a large bed of yellow flowers. The sunlight gently filtered in, making the flowers gleam like tiny cartoonish suns. Other than that it seemed like a far as hell fall. Above you… you heard crumbling.

Slowly, you turned your head toward the noise in disbelief. The earth around your hook was crumbling to dust, jolting the rope you held onto. Dust and small rocks sprinkled down like confetti, bouncing off you and falling toward the flowers. Panic erupted in your chest as you quickly fumbled for your ice axe that you had been saving for higher up the mountain. You flicked out your wrist, extending the large pick just as the hook lost its grip on the earth.

You swung with the last of your momentum to the wall of the cavern, attempting to grab everything and anything you could with your hand and the ice axe. You slid down the wall painfully, every rock and stray root or branch catching on your arms and legs. The ice axe finally caught on a ledge, letting you dangle yet again over the giant hole, though you were still sliding slowly.

Looking down, you were much closer to the bottom, your grappling hook swinging from side to side below you. You took a deep breath, silently grateful that you had put on your goggles and scarf, dust settling around you in clouds. Your arm strained to hold your ice axe on the cave wall, the other pulling the grappling hook back up to your hand.

The hook finally reached your glove and you attempted to swing it onto the small ledge next to you. To your horror, the hook missed, tumbling off the wall and knocking your ice axe free on its way.

“No no no no!” you shrieked, hacking desperately at the earth to get a grip. The rock was passing you quickly as you fell, nothing seeming to stop the endless rush of wind on your ears. A ledge hit your elbow _hard_ , causing you to fall away from the wall, losing all chance of slowing your fall. You scrunched your eyes closed, hoping you at least wouldn’t suffer as you died from impact.

Before you can think more on it, the air is knocked out of your lungs as you fall to the flowers below. You choke on air, your mind reeling and vision spotty as you recover from the fall. Your ice axe and grappling hook are quick to follow, making you painfully roll on your side to avoid getting stabbed by one or the other.

You sit up slowly, your elbow screaming in pain as you survey the clearing. It was dark save for the flower bed, what looked like a small opening of sorts far into the wall on your right. You checked your elbow, finding blood dripping through your jacket from a rather large cut on your upper arm. Glancing around, you guessed you were alone and unhooked your backpack, folding up your climbing gear to stow it and pulling out the first aid kit.

Still watching your surroundings, you lifted your jacket sleeve carefully to reveal the wound. You tied it off tightly, cleaning it as much as you could before slinging your backpack back on. It looked like you were going cave exploring now, might as well make the best of it. You pulled down your jacket sleeve and made for the opening in the cavern wall, only to be distracted by a lone yellow flower.

You eyed it suspiciously, not noticing it before. It was a far ways away from the bed of flowers, odd that it would grow here in the dark rather than in the sliver of sunlight. Stepping around the flower, you resumed your path toward the opening when you heard a voice.

“ _You_ ”

Your body whipped around at lightning speed, hand resting on your now open holster. There was no one there though, just the flower and the darkness. Your eyes strained to peer into the further shadows only to find nothing again. Had you hit your head harder than you thought? God, you hoped not. The only thing better than your already dwindling mental health would be menacing voices in your head. _Right._ Backing away slowly, you tried to rationally assume that perhaps it was weird echoes.

Then the flower began to move. It turned in place, a small face taking up the center of the flower where the seeds should be. But instead there’s a face. On a flower. You fought back the urge to laugh hysterically, watching the flower’s expression turn to one of anger. Were you dreaming again? If so, you had one hell of an imagination.

“ _I thought you were dead_ ” it hissed at you, somehow becoming even more terrifying regardless of the fact that it was a flower. Its mouth spread with sharp teeth, beady eyes glinting with murderous intent.

You eyed the flower and looked back toward the hole you had fallen through. Did it want you to die in that fall? What did it mean by that? What an angry flower… you gripped the handle of your handgun now, not liking the hostile vibe this fucking _flower_ was giving off. It must have realized that you weren’t going to respond, growing and twisting to a slightly larger size to tower above you. His stem reminded you of the beanstalk stories you had heard before, suddenly wondering if _this_ was what the story entailed _._ The stem was littered with thorns and small leaves, the thorns dripping some kind of... gross looking sap.

“ _What? You don’t remember your old pal Flowey?”_ it cackled, getting a bit too close for comfort.

Oh hell no. You whipped out your hand gun, your arms surprisingly steady despite the wound in your upper arm and the fear in your veins. Your mind started to race, worried you would actually have to use the gun. You’d never actually hurt anyone… but it didn’t look like this monstrous flower was going to be friendly. You swallowed, aiming directly at the creature.

Flowey glanced at the handgun with a bored expression, snaking his vine toward you. You ducked, rolling out of the way of the vine. He didn’t seem to think you would dodge him, if his expression was anything to go by. You landed on one knee, still aiming the gun in his direction. He let out an irritated scoff, sending another vine your way. Much faster than the last, you attempted to roll again only to get caught by a thorn in your jacket sleeve.

The gun tilted in your hand, the jostling causing you to instinctively grip tighter to keep the gun from tumbling to the ground, effectively pulling the trigger. You were knocked back against the wall, your back hitting the rocks as your ears rang from the gun shot. A coughing fit ensued from the impact, panic forcing you back to your feet. You saw your gun laying on the cavern floor only a few feet away and stumbled toward it, picking it up with shaking hands as your vision returned slowly.

When your head finally stopped spinning, the dust clearing, you saw the flower laying on the ground. Horror swept through you, had you killed it? Keeping your air of suspicion, you moved quickly to the now smaller creature’s side to find it breathing heavily. Taking a closer look, you found that the bullet had gone through one of its petals.

Unsure of what to do, you stared at it for a minute before holstering your weapon. Uhhh... what heals plants? You glanced around frantically before your gaze landed on the flower bed and then it clicked. As gently as you could, you lifted the flower, earning groans and curses. Steadily, you moved to the flower bed before laying it in the sunlight and pouring some of your water on its stem.

“F-fuck off, you idiot” it choked at you, that angry look still gracing its face.

You sighed, figuring that you had done all you could for a flower creature. Standing, you returned to the opening in the cavern, finding that it actually turned into a hallway of sorts. You maneuvered the hallways and crumbling old temples silently and in the shadows, not wanting to be found by some of the other creatures you spotted down here.

You wondered if there was some kind of nuclear waste spill or some kind of area 51 that you had fallen into as you watched the largest frog you had ever seen hop by your hiding place. The dilapidated buildings of a sort confused you, where the hell were you? Was this some sort of government secret or something? How long had all this been down here? There even seemed to be traps of some kind, though they had already been deactivated.

Creeping around a corner, you spotted a large tree in the middle of a hallway. It lead to a small cottage of sorts, worn to the point of the rest of the buildings. Making sure no one else was around, you peered into the window and found the house seemingly empty. You took a deep breath and turned the door knob as quietly as you could, hand on your open holster just in case.

You stuck to the wall, slowly checking each room only to find them all empty. A pie sat on the kitchen counter and there seemed to be a child's room but otherwise there was no sign of life. That’s when you heard a rumble come from below you. This was the only way to go, the only way other than back up the cavern, which was out of the question. You sighed, thankful that your gloves covered your sweaty palms. _Cave exploring your ass_.

Making your way down the nearly endless stairs, you found yourself at the beginning of a long as hell hallway. At the end of said hallway, a goat monster looked to be fighting with a _child_. Not just fighting but throwing fire at them from their hands! The kid seemed to be holding their own, ducking and weaving when they needed to. A lump grew in your throat as you crept closer, your gun suddenly feeling like a lifeline. How could you attack a fucking kid? You pulled the gun from its holster, aiming steadily. This wasn’t just about your safety now.

Your heart beat loud enough to cloud your hearing, close enough now that the monster had noticed you. You realized it was a woman monster (if there was such a thing) from her long purple dress and long white fur. Her expression was sad you noticed, until it turned to surprise and then worry. She paused in her attacks, the child whipping around to face you with a wide eyed look. It was that kid from the bus stop! The homeless one! They didn’t look much better since then, the dirt was cleaned away only to be replaced with soot. Regardless, they didn’t seem to recognize you this time, probably thanks to the scarf and goggles.

They flailed their hands at you, obviously not realizing the danger they were in. You moved closer, noticing the door behind the goat monster and the way she was pointedly blocking it. That must be the way out. The kid still flailed their hands at you and you realized that maybe they were using sign language from the way they moved their fingers. God damn it, if only you could remember your high school class. You motioned toward the door with the gun, trying to show them the way out so at least they could escape.

They weren’t listening, they ran up to you and pulled on your arm. You shook them off, now wasn’t the time to risk both of your lives. You nodded harshly toward the door again, hoping they would get the message. The kid looked at the goat monster, receiving a nod in response, before turning toward the door. You were confused now, was she letting the kid go? After all that? You supposed that you did have a gun on her but the kid did have to pass by her to leave.

The child looked back, tears in their eyes as they opened the large stone door and slipped through. Well don’t you feel like a dick now. The sad look was back on the monster’s face, making her look a lot less intimidating than you had originally thought. You wouldn’t forget that she was literally throwing fire at a child though. Your hand was shaking, you realized, steadying your grip with a deep breath. It hitched in your throat. You were really tired of being attacked. Your arm hurt like a bitch, the rest of your body was probably covered in bruises and sweat, and you just wanted to relax for five seconds. It felt like you were standing there for hours… but the longer the kid had to escape, the better.

“Please don’t hurt me” you pleaded quietly after what seemed like forever, seeing the shock plain on the monster’s face through the tears welling in your eyes. You had no idea if the gun would even work on a creature like this, if she would be able to get to you before you could shoot. If she was more powerful than the flower or planned to use some kind of sorcery. Your hand began to shake again, this stalemate would have to end sometime.

She shook her head, a more motherly expression taking over instead. “I believe you can take care of yourself on your own, my child. Please… watch over Frisk if you wouldn’t mind.” She said gently, stepping to the side for you to pass.

You side stepped toward the door, never taking your eyes or the gun off of her. Finally reaching behind you, you pulled the handle of the large piece of stone and slipped one foot out the door. She watched you with sad eyes and smiled lightly when the door opened.

“Thank you” you whispered to her, jumping through the opening and closing the door behind you.


	7. Choked Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ; )

The first thing you noticed was the bitter and unrelenting cold, piercing through your jacket even with your many layers. You suppressed a shiver, sticking close to the looming stone door to make your form smaller.

The tall trees grew upward for what seemed like forever from the endless white, looking more like ink pen lines than forest. The large snowflakes blended with the wind, whipping around your (thankfully) covered face, your loose ponytail pinned under the goggle strap and scarf.

  
You scanned the forest, squinting through the storm, finding nothing. Worried that you’d find more monsters, you slipped into the tree line, hoping that they would stick to the path. The storm was difficult to see through but you crept carefully through the snow, sticking close to the farther trees when you could.

Footsteps and weird noises echoed through the forest, making you press your back against the frosted bark of a nearby tree.

  
Daring not to breathe, you stuck to your hiding place and prayed for it to go away. The noises came again, somewhat closer, and you realized they sounded like small sobs.

The only sound on your end was the small twinkling of your backpack harness and immediately your hand shot down to silence the noisy metal rings. Your heart dropped into your stomach, wondering if the kid had gotten away at all or if you had just handed them over to another. You bit your lip with guilt, slowly releasing the strain on your lip when you felt some sort of electricity fill the air.

  
Recognizing it as the same feeling (yet so much stronger somehow) from the flower and then the goat lady, you sunk further in your hiding place.

Oh yeah, climb this big ass mountain, ______. That’s a great idea. And then we can hang out with these batshit crazy monsters after falling down a giant ass hole. That just sounds swell.

  
Sweat ran down your neck, your eyes clamped shut in fear. Your fingers would be bloody from how tight you gripped the bark of your hiding place if not for your gloves.

The static in the air was so permeable you felt like you were suffocating, your eardrums overtaken with the sound of your heartbeat. Your chest felt tight, like it was pleading for you to move, to follow the footsteps you knew were still there.

  
‘Please don’t kill me, not like this, not here’ you pleaded internally, your head swimming. After what seemed like an eternity, you could barely make out the echo of receding footsteps. The sound grew harder and harder to hear, your heartbeat slowly returning to normal. Letting out a tentative breath, you peeked around the tree to find the forest empty again.

  
It took what you guessed was an hour before the sky(?) began to grow dark and the shadows began to play tricks on you. Finding the edge of the cavern at a cliff that led to nothing (but what you assumed was death) was mildly easy. You crept around trees, sticking to the shadows and going the only direction you hadn’t been.

  
Before long, it was night, perplexing you further on the origins of such a large ecosystem below ground. You had come across a few creatures in the forest, all for some reason more… friendly than the last two. An animal type thing resembling a deer caught you off guard, its face almost twisted looking as it approached you carefully.

  
“Haven’t seen you around these parts, you from New Home?” it asked politely, obviously ignoring your rigid posture. Did it just talk? Could they all talk? Much less speak English? You knew that the goat lady and the flower talked but at least this one looked more like a normal ass animal…

  
Not sure how to respond, you slowly nodded, hoping that was the answer that would let you flee. It brightened a little, coming closer. You tried not to lean away from it, noticing how sharp its teeth were from this proximity.

  
“Did you see that Mettaton concert last weekend? I heard it was crazy! I couldn’t go cause some teenagers threw all this junk on me… but this weird looking monster came by today and helped me take it all off.” The creature gushed, shaking its head slightly as if to show off its antlers. You held up a shaking thumbs up, hoping that would be the end of the conversation.

  
“Huh, not a talker? That’s okay! We’ll catch up later!” it called, already trotting off toward the way you came.

  
You exhaled, thankful for a peaceful encounter. You came across another deer like animal, as well as a few small creatures with large hats, and a large bird like thing.

They all seemed relatively friendly… maybe you were wrong? Or maybe you just had to be careful? It did seem to think you were some kind of monster like them as well, it made sense. With all this garb, you probably looked like a weird hunchback with bug eyes. It wouldn’t be too hard to believe that you were a monster, especially with the variety you had seen so far…

  
Reclaiming your careful footing, you followed the cliff to a bridge that was lined with what looked like large wooden columns. Glancing around, you huffed when you noticed the stone door at the other end of the path that you skirted around. Well at least you dodged that other monster, you could only imagine that it wasn’t a friendly with the static it left in the air.

  
The wood was silent, the small stand ahead completely void of life. Letting out a sigh, you crept behind the wooden post to find books and condiment bottles. Nothing of real use to you considering the books were mostly joke related. Sitting against the side panel to rest for a moment, you cracked open the book sitting on top of the large stack.

  
You read over the first couple of pages, quietly snickering at a few that weren’t too bad. You turned to the next page, tugging out a water bottle and taking a swig. The page listed a number of Halloween themed jokes, most having to do with word play. You nearly choked when one made your heart tense, the words making your mouth go dry. The book fell to the snow with a crunch, your head becoming fuzzy as your chest twisted in a knot.

  
A whimper escaped your lips, your head pounding with pain as you curled up in the snow. Your hands reached for the book on their own accord, clutching it to Your chest. You couldn’t think much less breathe, the pain cutting through you like razor blades. Thankfully, it only took a moment before the pain subsided as quick as it had came, your vision and headache clearing. You took deep shaking breaths, willing the pain in your chest to dissipate as you tossed the book to the side in fear.

  
Rolling onto all fours, you climbed to your feet and reached for your water bottle, not daring to even look toward the joke book. What the fuck. What the hell was going on! One minute you’re fighting a fucking flower, the next you’re getting asked about a god damn concert. It felt like everywhere you turned was either fear or surprise, neither of the two being a welcome feeling.

The whiplash was getting to you, wearing down your resolve to raw emotion and more than anything… you felt afraid.

  
 _Move forward, dumbass_.

  
You swallowed the lump in your throat and made your way back into the tree line where you could for a makeshift cover. It seemed that everyone here was asleep, what with all the shacks that might hold guards being empty. That was odd, you thought, wouldn’t they want a round the clock watch? What were they even afraid of? Or were they just… keeping watch for anything out of the ordinary? What could these creatures be afraid of? You tried not to think about it as you crept through the forest, keeping a sharp eye out for anything that moved.

  
After a bit of trekking, you spied lights in the distance. Your heart leapt at the sight, the thought of finally leaving this hell hole made your pace pick up. Until you noticed that the cavern’s ceiling kept going for what seemed like miles. You groaned internally, still aware of the dangers around you. Where would you sleep? It’s not like you could just curl up in the snow and there were no caves in the cavern wall that you saw.

  
You suddenly thought of your meager food supply, only enough to last you a day or so. Maybe the town would have somewhere to hide? Something to eat? They had lights, what was stopping them from having food? You wondered how far whatever the hell this underground place went on for, not seeing an end to the rock walls in any direction. Don’t think about it, _____. Just keep moving.

Peering out from the forest, you spied a large banner held up by two wooden posts. String lights flashed in sync around the banner, the brightly colored paint spelling out ‘Welcome to Snowdin’. Well, you hardly felt welcome… but you appreciated the play on words. Not that you wouldn’t mind if the storm let up even a little bit.

  
Past the sign stood a couple of humble buildings, their stacks letting off smoke that nearly blended with the night air. Wooden signs graced their fronts, indicating that one was a store and the other being an inn. You paused, hidden behind trees as you considered attempting to pass for a monster.

You didn’t have much time to contemplate before a heavenly smell flooded your senses.  
The smell lured you past the shops, past the houses, and (surprisingly) the Christmas tree in the center of town. You nearly missed the library sign being misspelled, your stomach growling loudly and pushing you on. A homey looking establishment stood a few yards away, chattering and the clinking of glasses drifting through the storm to your place behind a tree. ‘Grillby’s’ it proclaimed, the smell of (maybe?) fries lingering to you.

  
A strong pull sent you stepping tentatively toward the eatery, your eyes darting around to catch anything that might seem dangerous. You swallowed, your heart beating out of your chest as your hand shakily took the brass door handle. It pulled open easily, swinging open a bit quicker than you anticipated thanks to the wind. The warm atmosphere that you saw through the frosted windows was nothing compared to the actual feel of it.

  
You stepped into the restaurant, closing the door behind you carefully. The warmth burned through your clothing, sweat already beginning to bead on your neck from anxiety. You tried to act normal, glancing around nervously at the collection of beasts and oddities. A table of dogs played poker in the corner, the irony lost on your nearly shaking form. Other creatures drank and talked amongst themselves, seemingly ignoring you.

  
Your attention was drawn to the fire behind the bar, eyes widening in disbelief as you took in the bartender who was made entirely of flames. You swallowed dryly, avoiding eye contact with it. The only seat available at the bar it seemed, was a lone stool between a duck looking animal and another patron whose hood was pulled up.

  
Hesitantly, you took a seat at the stool, the bartender quickly placing a menu in front of you. Careful not to accidentally touch its hand, afraid you would catch fire.

You weakly nodded in thanks, still not trusting your voice to these… whatever they were. Looking over the menu, you almost laughed. It looked like a regular ass bar menu complete with burgers, fries, and alcohol. Not trusting the drink, you pointed to the picture of a normal looking burger and fries. The fire nodded, taking the laminated paper from you and retreating through a swing door.

  
Trying to act natural, you glanced around again to take in the atmosphere. It was the most at ease you had felt the entire time you were down here… come to think of it, the most at ease you had felt in a long time. The tightness in your chest was all but an annoyance, your skin finally warming from the snow storm. You tapped your fingers on the bar, needing to get out your anxious energy somehow.

  
“Who’s there” came a deep gravelly voice next to you, drunken humor threaded through the tone. Surprised, you halted your tapping. You couldn’t see under the hood but you didn’t want to be nosy or get in the thing’s space to find out what it was. Your hand hovered nervously over the spot it had been tapping, panic rushing through your veins.

  
Before you could respond, the bar tender was back with your food. It smelled even better up close, the grease gleaming in the fire light. Your mouth watered at the sight until you realized you would have to lower your scarf to eat. God damn it, you hadn’t thought this through at all.

  
The joking patron next to you held out a hand, which you realized was skeletal, wiggling the shot glass at the walking bonfire. The fire crackled and poured a dark liquid into the glass, the skeletal hand pulling the shot under its hood before knocking it back. The movement made its hood fall off, revealing a skull. A real live skeleton sitting before you. Oh… _shit_. You suddenly wondered if it was one of those bad ones, realizing you may have just walked into a trap.

  
Your heart pounded in panic as you took in the features of it, the ever stretching grin reminded you of a Cheshire cat. Though it faltered in places, probably from whatever it was drinking. Small pin pricks of light were the only eyes it seemed to have, the ivory of the bone stark against the endless darkness of the sockets. The hoodie it wore had stains and small rips all over it, matted fur on the edge of the hood. It felt like your chest was on fire, your teeth grinding to stop the thoughts of ambush.

  
For a moment, you thought you saw its expression falter more so, the smile twitching as it reached for its chest. Before you could think anything of it, the smile was plastered back on its skull, its hand resting on the shot glass again. The pins of light landed on you then, shaking you to your core.   
“’s not polite to stare, pal” it warned, lights growing dim.

  
You whipped your head around to face forward, sweat starting on your neck again. The skeleton laughed, making a deep rattling sound as he lazily pointed at you. Confused, you leaned slightly away.

  
“Heh, you ah... like skeletons?” he slurred toward you. You finally realized he was talking about your scarf, you had worn the one with the skull. How fucking stupid could you be, _____? Your panic rose, afraid that you had offended him since you sort of looked like a skeleton too.

  
The bar tender filled the glass again and nodded toward your food in question. You shook your head, holding up a finger as if to say you’d eat in a minute. Maybe when you weren’t having a heart attack over sitting next to the god damn grim reaper. The fire tilted its head at you for a moment before retreating to the back again.

  
“D’you hear ‘bout the human that fell?” the skeleton asked, tone casual if not a little slurred. The panic flared again, wondering if it was talking about you or the kid. You shook your head, hoping it wasn’t too frantic. It nodded slowly, running a hand down its skull.

  
“Little human kid, ran through town crying about some other human that had a gun.” it spoke evenly this time, voice deeper and more intense than you thought it could get. You froze in place, realizing that your leg holster was out in the open, directly facing him.

You dared not breathe, silence taking over the bar now as the other patrons listened in. Why had they been crying about you? It was the goat woman that was throwing god damn fire balls at them!

  
“The little kiddo told me a skele-ton about this human… like how they were dressed in all black and how they threatened a monster. You wouldn’a seen anythin’ like that out there, did you?” he asked lowly, turning the shot glass over in his hand like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

  
You didn’t move, very aware of all the eyes on you at the moment. The skeleton slipped off the bar stool, not waiting for your answer. You moved quickly off the stool, backing away from the skeleton and toward the door.

Surprisingly, they all let you back up pretty far. At this point you were sure this was it, the end. All these terrifying creatures with their angry grimaces, your hands shaking as you held them up.

  
Almost to the door now, you thought, not that it was reassuring. They would never let you leave. The panic set in immediately and you whipped around to run out the door, hand reaching for your gun instinctively.

The shriek that bubbled in your chest stopped in your throat, a skeletal hand tightly wrapping around your windpipe and turning you to slam your back into the wall. Your thoughts could barely piece together how he got in front of you with the lack of oxygen travelling to your brain.

  
You struggled against the death grip on your neck, legs flailing as you realized through fading vision that you weren’t even touching the ground anymore. Black spots filled your vision, the bar falling away quickly.

The skeleton’s eye came into view, blue and yellow flashing at seizure inducing speeds, flames licking the pale ivory around the otherwise pitch black socket. It looked like it was in… pain.

  
“ _ **N o t t h i s t I m e l i n e**_ ” it whispered darkly, your vision dissolving completely in black.


	8. Mistakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi so I was thinking that I might make a new fan fiction based on Echotale??  
> With like... G!Sans and a con artist?  
> Thought it'd be pretty dope  
> Lemme know if you're interested...  
> Also exciting stuff in this chapter!

Sans followed Frisk through the storm, anger rising with every step. He would not have some dumb ass human with a gun ruin this timeline for him. If they killed even one monster, it could disrupt the natural flow and fuck up the future in a royal way. For once, the pun wasn’t intended. He had no idea what that would do to you, much less the rest of the underground, and he wouldn’t let it happen. The kid’s sobs wavered over the wind, their frantic jumping and stumbling through the snow making it easy to keep up by teleporting.

They stopped at the large stone door at the end of the path, the one leading to the Ruins. His eyes darted around the forest, magic flaring with every step closer. Frisk ran ahead, pounding at the door with both fists. An eerie echoing sounded barely through the roar of wind, it didn’t look like anyone was answering. He slipped his hand out of the hoodie pocket, raising it ever so slightly in an attempt to pull the stone door open. It wasn’t budging, likely from some powerful barrier spell that was put in place.

Sweat rolled down his temple, suddenly worried that the worst had already happened. The kid had sunk into the snow piles, leaning their forehead against the ancient door. Their shoulders shook with sobs or maybe they were just cold? He was about to pull them from the snow when a small noise echoed through the forest. It sounded like… twinkling light metal on metal. His outstretched hand hesitated as he listened for the noise again.

It was hard to tell which direction it had come from thanks to the wind and the echoing, though that didn’t stop his eye from flaring up in anticipation. He froze in place, attempting to seek out a soul presence through the storm. The kid sniffled loudly, standing and following his gaze to the tree line. They must have realized what he was looking for because they quickly and carefully moved to stand behind him.

He grunted in frustration, unable to sense anything over the slight pain in his chest. A tinge of panic set in as he reminded himself of the complications of being separated from you. Would it start affecting his magic attacks? What did he plan to do if he couldn’t muster up the magic to produce the blasters or bones? The thoughts shook from his skull as he tried to focus on the problem in front of him. He couldn’t seek out a soul, he couldn’t feel anything over the strain of his own.

The forest stayed dead silent, frustrating him further. He gently pushed the kid back, teleporting haphazardly through the groups of trees in hopes of finding something. If someone with a gun was running through here, they’d stick to the edge of the rocks. He whipped his skull around to find anything that could be out of place, finding nothing.

He clawed his phalanges down his face, eye flickering strange shadows on the snow. God damn it. God fucking damn it. He was going to have to wait a whole extra reset just to see you again. He had no idea if the rings would come along that time, no idea if it would kill both of you from soul strain, no idea if the kid would be homicidal. The thought made his skull pound and he punched the side of a thick tree, snow piles falling around him as the ancient wood splintered.

Tears pricked at his sockets, unsure if he could handle another reset. He didn’t know this time around. Everything was different, uncertain. He collapsed against the tree, sobs shaking in his ribs. His forehead rested against the bark, arm bracing himself from falling too far. It was then that he remembered the kid that was probably waiting for him by the stone door, scared and alone. He took a deep breath, shakily wiping his face of tears and trying to get a grip.

He would fight, if not for himself… then for you and Frisk. If he can find this gun toting motherfucker, he can just end it there and be done with it. It’s a big underground but they’d have to go through Snowdin eventually. They’d get tired or hungry eventually. At that point, whoever this was would have to come out of hiding… and when they did. They’d be in for a bad time.

Renewed with determination, he stood and took a few more deep breaths, remembering how you would calm him down when he had panic attacks. Keeping the pleasant thoughts in mind, he teleported back to Frisk, who jumped at his sudden presence. They gave him a questioning look and he answered the unspoken with a shake of his head. Their bottom lip quivered for a moment before setting into a grimace, they met his lights with a look of anger that shocked him. No. Not this time.

They signed quickly, explaining that they would find them and bring them around. He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, though he doubted the kid. His thoughts warred in his skull, worried that they wouldn’t be able to turn them around and then remembering that they’d been able to get past them before. Not that it really meant anything. Suppressing another grunt of irritation, he nodded to them instead.

“Let’s take a shortcut, kiddo” he sighed, steering them toward the path with his hand on their shoulder. He teleported them closer to Snowdin, past the bridge and sentry posts and before long the ‘Welcome’ sign came into view.

The kid stumbled a little in the snow as they stepped through but quickly regained their footing as he retracted his hand into his hoodie pocket again. They pulled on his hoodie sleeve for his attention, signing that they would meet him at his house later. He nodded slightly, teleporting back toward his first sentry station. He still needed to look for this person, whoever they were.

 

* * *

 

 

He had searched all fucking day. _All. Fucking. Day._ Finding nothing of interest, no footsteps, nothing. He checked near his sentry station and found a joke book open to a page of Halloween jokes, only to find the footsteps blown away in the storm.

His determination was dwindling as the artificial sunlight dimmed. Maybe he could just wait them out, it didn’t look like anyone else had been hurt yet. Maybe that was just his laziness talking.

The town of Snowdin had become quiet, families tuckering into their homes and the paths empty. The lights on the Christmas tree in the center of town were still flickering on and off, creating a weird glow through the night. He peered toward the bar, the sound of clinking glasses and laughter filtering through the thick wooden walls. His lights flicked farther down the path to his house, Papyrus was probably already home but… maybe he could stop for a drink or two.

He pulled the door open to be hit with warm air and drunken shouts of welcome. Glancing behind him, he scanned the woods for any movement and turned back feeling somewhat secure. He had already pasted his signature smile on his skull when the door closed behind him. A few of the regulars in the booth smiled lazily at him, raising their drink in acknowledgement.

Grillby was cleaning glasses as usual when he approached the bar, taking his usual seat and gesturing to his old friend for a drink. His one shot turned into two and then three until eventually he lost count. He couldn’t even remember when he pulled his hood up and laid his head against his arm but he only sat up when he heard the door creak open. His mind stumbled over a train of thought as he heard footsteps approaching the bar.

Wasn’t everyone at home already? All the regulars were still here but the streets were empty otherwise. Who could be out this late? At Grillby’s no less? His question was answered when a shaking hand gripped the edge of the bar, someone dressed in all black shifting onto the stool next to him. Wait… all black? Why did that ring a bell?

He thought it over for a minute while whoever it was quickly ordered actual food off the menu and handed it back to Grillby. The train was barely chugging along when he heard a thumping noise next to him, the person was tapping their fingers? He forced down a chuckle, already cracking up over his own joke. “Who’s there?” he asked, the laughter bubbling under the surface.

Their tapping stopped and he waited for them to respond, only to be greeted by Grillby setting down a plate of hot food. He sighed under his breath, of course his joke would be ruined. Without another thought, he wiggled the shot glass toward the bartender. Grillby sighed audibly, telling him he would be cut off soon in a series of crackles as he poured the monster liqueur into the glass. Sans rolled his lights, knowing he had another bottle at home. It would probably all be reset again, he would just lose you… again.

Blinking away the dark thoughts, he knocked back the shot, letting his hood fall back to his shoulders. He let the liquid seep through him, relaxing for a moment before he felt a sliver of fear run through his soul. In a panic, he felt his hand reach for his chest. ________. You must be in trouble… or worse. He attempted to swallow the worry, knowing there was nothing he could do for you. His regular smile took the place of his pained grimace and he gripped the small glass in his hand again.

Looking over, he noticed that the new patron was staring at him. He also noticed the gun strapped to their leg and the way they looked exactly like the human Frisk had described. They were shaking in their fully black outfit, the goggles and scarf blocking out any sign of skin. How lucky were you, Sans? Get to have some drinks AND catch the asshole with the gun.

“’s not polite to stare, pal” he warned the human, hoping his expression was grim instead of amused like he felt.

You whipped your head to face forward and he laughed heartily, pointing at you with a lazy hand. It was then that he noticed your scarf made it look like the bottom half of your face was a skull. That was probably why everyone was oblivious to you, you looked like a cousin of his with bug eyes and black clothes. The human leaned away from him, not that it bothered him. They weren’t leaving this bar.

“Heh, you ah… like skeletons?” he asked, a little more garbled than before. He tried to keep his laughter under control as Grillby filled his glass again, nodding to the human’s untouched food. They hesitantly shook their head, holding up a shaky finger to him. The bartender gave Sans a look, tilting his head as if to ask ‘why the fuck would you let your food get cold?’ before he went into the back again, leaving Sans to snicker under his breath. He figured now was as good a time as any to get serious considering you weren’t touching your food.

He took a deep breath to steady himself, “D’you hear ‘bout the human that fell?”

You shook your head and he noticed how frantic it was immediately. He nodded in turn, slowly as he ran a hand down his face. He didn’t let his lights leave you, taking in every fidget and wince.

“Little human kid, ran through town crying about some other human that had a gun.” He spoke slow and steady, voice becoming more serious as he spoke, ready for anything. A few of the regulars glanced over, listening in on the conversation as the human froze in place.

“The little kiddo told me a skele- _ton_ about this human… like how they were dressed in all black and how they threatened a monster. You wouldn’ a seen anythin’ like that out there, did you?” he asked, his tone turned low as he turned the shot glass over in his hand. Maybe his cockiness was too much for the situation or maybe it was just the drink but he was satisfied with the way the human shook in their seat.

Everyone in the bar was paying attention now as Sans slipped off his stool in a casual way, the human following quickly in a defensive manner. He watched you back up, amused when you held up your hands. A few of the patrons looked to Sans, confused as to why he was letting the human get so far. You seemed to realize this at the same time as you rushed toward the door, hand reaching for the strap on your leg.

That reach snapped him into action and he teleported in front of the door, gripping your throat with one hand to slam your back into the wall. You made some weird noises that sounded painful as you thrashed in his hold. He felt his magic and emotion flare up as inklings of that fear and pain jolted into his soul again. The human ripped at his hand in vain, his eye flickering the blue and gold reflected off your goggles.

“ _ **N O T  T H I S  T I M E L I N E**_ ” he growled under his breath, squeezing a little harder before all at once your body went limp and a shock of pain flowed through his soul.

He gasped out, stumbling backward a few steps and bumping into a table. Greater Dog caught his shoulder to steady him, giving Sans a questioning whine.

He swatted the canine away, “’m fine. I’ll take care of them.”

The dog nodded and backed away, not before giving him a concerned look. Sans stood there for a moment, staring at your limp form leaned against the bar wall. With a huff, he lifted you onto his shoulder and turned to salute Grillby, disappearing with the next moment.

 

* * *

 

 

He decided to leave you in the garage since you were still breathing… if not shallowly. He unbuckled the backpack wrapped around you, checking for weapons and tossing them in a pile on top of the bag. Unsure of how dangerous you actually were, he used some old zip ties he found in his tools to secure you to the wall near the corner. He went around the room, gathering anything sharp or dangerous in case you got out.

Taking the backpack and his bag of sharp and unruly items, he teleported to his room and shoved them in the back of his closet for the moment. A loud knock suddenly resounded on his bedroom door and he cursed under his breath.

“BROTHER?” Papyrus called through the wooden barrier, another knock following closely. Sans threw some clothes on top of the bags to blend it in, stumbling backward to untangle himself from the laundry.

“uhh, coming, bro!” he sputtered, tripping only twice as he made his way to the door.

He unlocked the door and opened it quickly, leaning against the frame. “’sup bro?” he asked, hoping his tone was nonchalant. Papyrus gave him a weird look, wringing his gloved hands anxiously.

“BROTHER, I HEARD A NOISE! ARE YOU ALL RIGHT? YOU’VE BEEN GONE A LONG TIME AS WELL… THE HUMAN AND I HAVE BEEN WORRIED!” He explains quickly, eyeing his brother suspiciously.

Sans breathed a sigh of relief, “Yeah bro, ‘m fine. I was just visiting Grillby, wouldn’t want him to get _bone_ -ly without me there… heh and I was uh… cleaning up my room.”

Papyrus was in disbelief as he peered past his brother into his room to find clothes still littered on the floor. “UH. RIGHT. WELL, BROTHER, BE MORE CAREFUL! AND QUIET! THE HUMAN IS ASLEEP ON THE COUCH! OBVIOUSLY SLEEPING WELL AFTER OUR DATE WITH MY SPAGHETTI!” he whisper shouted proudly past his hand, pointing with the other to the living room.

“Sorry, Paps, I’ll be quiet.” Sans assured him, a genuine smile spreading on his skull. At least Frisk was sticking to their normal selves. That was at least good news. “You want me to read you your story?” he asked with a relaxed sigh.

Papyrus nodded, his lights turning brighter as he raced down the hall. Sans chuckled to himself and followed lazily, figuring you were tied up and passed out. Serious shit could wait for 10 minutes.

 

* * *

 

 

He closed Paps’ door quietly, his anxiety already flaring as he checked on Frisk over the railing. The little lump rose and fell with their breathing, the living room dark and silent as they slept. He nodded to himself and walked quickly down the hall back into his room. Grabbing the backpack out of his closet, he threw it onto his bed and sat next to it.

It took him almost a half hour to get to the bottom of the bag, the thing had a ridiculous amount of pockets and secret storage. His bed was currently covered in weapons, maps, books, tools of some kind, and a meager supply of food and water. He turned over the phone he had found in the bag, unable to open it without the password. It had a series of cracks on the screen, making it hard to read the notifications that he could see. There were a few missed calls and texts but they seemed to be from early in the morning.

He set down the phone and took in the large pile of items. Why were they here? What did they want from them? Who were they? The questions ran through his mind at a mile a minute while he stared at it all. Slowly, he placed it all back in the bag and shoved it back in his closet. He stood from the closet door and slid his hands in his hoodie pockets.

It was time to ask some questions.

In a blink, he appeared in the garage, the human in a similar crumpled position he left them in. They were whimpering softly, almost too quiet for him to hear as they leaned against the wall. He stayed where he was to watch them for a minute to make sure they hadn’t noticed him, wondering if it was an act or some kind of trick. If he waited much longer though, he would start to feel bad.

As quiet as he could manage, he shuffled over to the human. They seemed to notice when his slippers came into view, a strangled and rasping cry barely making it past their lips as they backed further into the wall. Fear jolted in his soul again and his breathing hitched in his throat. He took a deep breath to will the feeling away, crouching down next to the shaking form on the floor.

He noticed that the elbow of their jacket was ripped, red peeking through the open fabric to what looked like medical gauze. They got injured? If not from him… Toriel? He smirked to himself, at least someone got a good hit in before kicking the bucket. The tail end of his thought caused his smirk to even out into a grimace as he inspected their elbow. They wouldn’t die from it but it was probably painful. Good.

Leaning over, he glanced at their hunched over form. They were visibly shaking, pressed against the wall and what sounded like nearly silent crying. He would have felt pity if he didn’t already know the sins they carried. He moved closer, tugging on both the goggles and the scarf, letting them drop to the ground. The human cowered away from him but still had enough gall to meet his eye lights and spit at his feet.

Sans froze, everything going blank as he fell backward a step in shock. His soul pulsed in his chest, breathing non-existent as everything came together all at once. He pulled himself up on his knees again, afraid to touch you even as he reached for you.

“__-______?”


	9. Hot Water

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooooooooo *eyebrow wiggle*

The mix of emotions flooding through Sans was giving him whiplash. Just the sight of you was giving him a sense of relief and happiness that almost made all those sleepless nights worth it. The dirt nearly covering your face and the blooming bruises on your neck sobered the initial relief, pain ripping through his chest as he realized what he did. Your angry scowl wasn’t helping either.

He felt like he had been staring at you for far too long, unsure of what to say or do. He had just strangled his soul mate to the point of unconsciousness… and then zip tied her to the wall of his garage. That sounded oddly serial killer in his head, though he still wasn’t sure if he should untie you.

Especially with the way you were darting your eyes away from his every few seconds, likely looking for something to grab once you got free. Not to mention the venomous look you were giving him and the way your muscles hadn’t stopped tensing since he took off your goggles and scarf.

He cleared his throat as quietly as he could, seeing as you hadn’t responded to your name and he didn’t want to do anything sudden or loud. Even if you were giving him a look of hate, he could tell you were terrified. The twitching of your arm, probably from not being able to fidget like you always wanted to when you were nervous. The ever so slight quivering of your bottom lip, chapped to the point of bleeding.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, he shifted to sit back on his heels. “Are you... ok?” he asked nervously, not sure what to do with his hands. He couldn’t touch you, that would just freak you out more.

He watched as you shifted uncomfortably, moving slightly more away from him as you looked down at yourself. You sucked in a breath and he thought his soul had cracked from how shaken and tear filled it sounded. You nodded, keeping your head down. He nodded slowly in return, heaving a sigh and weighing his options. All the weapons he had found on you were safe in his closet, not that it meant much if you could really use all of them.

Thinking back to the backpack, he shook himself mentally. Holy shit. _Holy. Shit._ Those were all your weapons. Looking over you again he noticed now how much more muscular you were this timeline. Not a ridiculous amount, but you seemed a whole hell of a lot more fit than the girl who could eat an entire bag of Doritos before taking a nap on the couch with him.

He wondered for a moment what else was different about you, considering your now brunette hair and toned physique. Were your tattoos still there? Fuck, focus. You still hadn’t looked up or really moved from when he asked if you were alright. He took a breath, scratching the back of his skull.

“If I… untie you… will you try to attack me?” he asked quietly, knowing that regardless of the answer… he couldn’t trust you just yet.

At first he wasn’t sure if you had heard him… or maybe you had passed out again? That is until you shook your head, the motion making the wet strands of hair from your loose ponytail fall over your face. Then he realized that you were still soaking wet from the storm, your clothes had left a small puddle under you. Maybe if he…

“Do you want a shower and some different clothes?” he probed, a little more of a normal volume this time. At this, you raised your red tinged eyes to look at him. They were so suspicious it made his non-existent skin crawl. You seemed to be looking for something, a motive maybe. Your eyes darted around for a few seconds, considering his offer, he hoped. It took a minute but you finally nodded shortly, avoiding his eyes again.

Sans sighed in relief, pausing himself before he approached you. “I’m going to untie you now, ok?” he warned, lifting his hand cautiously. You stiffened for a moment as you eyed his hand before sucking in air again and nodding. He wondered for a moment if you could talk…The number of silent responses had him wondering if it was that or if you were just too scared to say anything to him.

He quickly found a pair of scissors hidden under the bench in a locked cabinet and approached carefully to set you free. Trying to ignore the concealed fear in your eyes and how dark the bruises on your neck looked up close, he leaned in close to get to the tie. “I’m so sorry” he whispered, sawing at the thick plastic binding your hands together. The tie broke with a soft ‘pop’ and fell to the floor at Sans’ feet.

He watched you bring your hands to your chest, wringing your wrists while still giving off defensive body language. Your hands were shaking, rubbing over the bright red chafing that had no doubt happened when you tried to wriggle free. He stepped to the side and offered you a hand to get up even though he could feel the sweat forming on his skull already.

You peered at his outstretched hand for a moment with an expression he couldn’t quite place before standing on your own with some difficulty. Ever since he had realized it was you he couldn’t stop inspecting you for differences. If you had bad knees, if you were taller than him, if he could spot a tattoo anywhere, or even some form of recognition… anything. With the bulky clothing you were wearing, it was tough to figure out anything about you other than that you were ready for… something.

Your posture was much better than the last timeline, he noticed. Though your anxiety was still a dead giveaway for him. The way you couldn’t look at him, the fidgeting with a seam on your jacket, and the shaking that still hadn’t stopped. Although that could just be fear. Regardless, he was just happy that you didn’t immediately attack him.

He cleared his throat, catching a glimpse of your eyes under your hair. “You’re not gonna run off from me, are you? We gotta go outside to get to the house and I wouldn’t want you to be alone out there, especially without your backpack.” He explained, watching your expression flicker from the default fear to confusion. You shook your head slowly, lowering your eyes back to the floor but not really seeing it.

“Alright… kiddo, let’s get you cleaned up. You look just about chilled to the _bone_.” He quipped distractedly, cursing under his breath when he realized he already used that one. With a quick wave for you to follow, he made his way to the door and held it open for you. The wind blustered in through the door and caused you to violently shiver as you stepped hesitantly past him into the night. He gave you an apologetic look in passing and led you to the front door.

With a (hopefully) quiet snap of his fingers, concealed in his hoodie pocket, the door unlocked and swung open silently. You quickly shuffled in, not waiting for him to take the awkward lead. Sans closed the door behind him as quiet as he could, glancing around the house for any sign of Pap or Frisk being awake. He was met with a dark and nearly lifeless living room but if he squinted up the stairs he could make out the door to Papyrus’ room cracked open.

Frisk must have snuck into Paps’ room while he was in the garage, they always did like his race car bed. The tug of fear on his soul was only there for a second before he reassured himself that Chara had no control here anymore. You can only die so many times before there’s nothing left to kill. He blinked a few times to clear his train of thought and gestured for you to stay there. It took a few times to get it through the dark but after the third time of him pantomiming, you nodded shortly.

He heard a squeak downstairs when he finally set foot in his room, teleporting seemed like a fine idea at the time. It was silent and meant you got new clothes sooner. He didn’t even think about your reaction, _shit_. With a sigh, he flicked on the light switch and dug through his closet for the backpack. Triple checking for weapons or anything that could even be considered pointy, he zipped up the backpack and blinked himself downstairs.

You squeaked again, a small bird-like noise that made his grin twitch when you realized he was next to you. “What’s the matter? Never seen anyone disappear out of thin air and reappear again?” he laughed quietly, handing you your backpack. He heard a grunt come from your direction and it made him laugh a little harder, he could just see your irritated look. You held the large bag to your chest as he led you slowly up the stairs and to the door in the middle of the hallway.

“Here it is, the grand bathroom.” He whispered, opening the door and flipping the light on. You walked in hesitantly, examining his small bathroom with a confused look on your face. “It’s got everything a human like yourself could need… a shower and all that. You could say it’s the _shit_.” He quipped with an extra wheeze at your horrified expression. Seeing that you weren’t laughing, he hurriedly cleared his throat again.

“Ah… right. Well, I’ll just be next door if you need me… Are you hungry?” he asked nervously, the forced casual lean he was doing against the frame of the door not exactly helping. You were glaring at the floor pretty hard for a moment before shaking your head. He grunted, “Well I’ll make you a sandwich and if you wanna eat it you can.”

You didn’t respond… much less move, so Sans took that as his opportunity to leave. He heaved himself off the door frame and backed away, patting the frame for good measure. “Well, uh… just meet me in the kitchen when you’re done, I guess.” He muttered and you nodded, shutting the door on him.

What the fuck was wrong with him? ‘You could say it’s the shit’?! Jesus. He ran a hand down his skull and groaned in embarrassment. Get it together, you dumbass. With a deep breath, he teleported to the kitchen and quickly made a PB&J. It was your favorite before, he could only hope he guessed right now.

He was about to sit at the table when he heard a soft noise coming from upstairs, from the bathroom. Without a beat, he blinked himself to the door and carefully laid his skull against the wood to listen. There was the unmistakable dripping and spraying noise coming from the shower, the steam seeping out of the door slightly. Then there were other sounds… sniffling, shaken breaths, and whimpering.

The pain in his chest was unreal as he slumped against the door, unsure what to do. He couldn’t go in there, you didn’t know him. You probably wouldn’t even wanna talk about it with him since he was more than likely part of it. He sighed and lifted to his feet, not wanting to hear the sound of your pain anymore. He figured he might as well check on Paps and Frisk, an easy enough distraction.

Pulling up the blankets on the cuddling duo, he heard the shower turn off and his soul started beating through his chest. He quickly closed the door to his brother’s room and teleported downstairs, sitting in his seat as he heard the bathroom door creak open. The light filtered in weird angles on the far wall, your shadow disrupting them and then putting out the light entirely. He heard you pad softly down the stairs, your steps slowing as you came closer to the kitchen.

Looking over, he saw that you had on some thick leggings that disappeared into thick socks and an older video game tee shirt, your hair falling in limp, wet strands around your face. He tried to ignore the hope that wiggled into his chest, seeing you look so… normal. You still wouldn’t look at him though, not that that had stopped him from taking in how beautiful you looked now that you weren’t covered in dirt. He also noticed that you had new gauze wrapped around your elbow and squinted at it, had you gotten hurt?

He shook those questions away for later and pushed the plate of sandwich in your general direction, gesturing for you to have a seat. You carefully examined the kitchen from your spot at the entryway, slowly and carefully pulling out the chair opposite him. You made no move for the sandwich, you simply sat and stared at the wood grain of the table.

“Look, kid… we don’t want to hurt you.” He said tentatively, the silence making his skull ring. You immediately shot him a glare and laid a hand on your collarbone. He gave you a pleading look, “Yeah, I know… I said I’m sorry. I know I won’t be forgiven and I don’t blame you but I am sorry. The little one told me you had a gun and they were so scared…” he trailed off, leaning his head into his hand. He sighed and scooted out of his chair, moving to make some tea.

He made it in silence but he could feel your eyes on his back, the confusion and fear gripping your soul so tightly that he could feel it. He slid the steaming mug onto the table in front of you and reclaimed his seat, watching you squint into the cup. “It’s sea tea. It’ll heal your injuries, no _trout_.” He joked openly, the small twitch at the corner of your mouth making his soul leap.

You sighed, the sound more like a wheeze than anything, and took a small sip. He tried not to laugh when your face scrunched up, obviously not expecting the sour taste. To his surprise, you took a deep breath and held your nose, chugging the entire mug in one go. Yeah, this timeline was definitely different. As you gulped down the last of the tea, he felt his eyebrows fall back to their normal height.

“Huh. Didn’t think you were such a big _fin_ of sea tea,” he mumbled, watching the bruises fade before his lights. You cleared your throat, gently rubbing the skin there before your expression turned more relaxed. “So uh… can you talk?” he asked bluntly, figuring it would be better to know now.

“Yes” you said quietly, so short he almost didn’t catch it. His soul throbbed at the sound of your voice, rasping as it was, relief taking over once again.

“What’s your name?” he asked, looking pointedly at the ignored sandwich.

“_______” you murmured, your brows turning with confusion. That's right, he already said your name... Damn it. He was really losing his touch with this shit. Just play it cool, maybe you're confused about something else.

“All right, ______” he said quietly, savoring the name he dared not say with company. “If you want, you can sleep on the couch since I’m betting you don’t wanna bunk with me. No one will bother you or hurt you so long as you don’t hurt us.” He stated evenly, watching your expression change with nearly each word. You nodded slowly, enriched in the table again.

He sighed, “So why’d you come down here?”

You shrugged, a deceptively blank look falling on your features. “I accidentally fell down a hole but… I guess I’m trying to find my husband.”


	10. Drowning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so late!

The endless black of unconsciousness seeped over you like a blanket, welcoming you into the abyss. It appeared to go on forever, surrounding and suffocating you much like other dreams. For a moment, you wondered if you had died. If this was heaven or hell or… something else entirely. You couldn’t move or breathe, it was like your dream with the goopy skeleton thing. But where was he now?

As if answering your question, a voice called out your name through the darkness, sounding warbled and distant. You tried to call back in vain, no sound escaping you. Suddenly, a skeletal hand appeared between the folds of endless black. It reached out and gripped your arm, tugging you through the pleats with it.

There he was again, that blob thing. The one that wanted you to tell someone ‘hi’? …Sans? Whoever the hell that was. He slunk away from you to give you space, gently raising his hands in front of him like before. He moved them slowly and you noticed the holes in his palms rippled at the edges.

“So you fell into the mountain?” he asked, the words forming in that weird smoke signal way above him. You had almost forgotten that he had told you to go to the mountain, did that technically make all this shit his fault? Your brow furrowed in irritation at the thought.

“Yes, no thanks to you. Now I’m… dead or something.” You griped, glancing down at your glitching hands. The blob chuckled, making a weird fuzz noise that hurt your ears.

“You’re still alive, my dear. You were simply… put to sleep.”

“You mean that skeleton guy choked me out.”

“Precisely” he agreed with another earsplitting chuckle.

You grunted in response, not entirely sure how that was any better. Who knows what was going on while you were knocked out. Your mind travelled to the worst and you swallowed the lump in your throat.

“What am I supposed to be looking for exactly?” you asked timidly, the unknown feeling of all of this starting to give you a headache. He pondered your question for a moment, his hands twitching in front of him as he thought it over.

“Your… husband” he said cautiously as if he wasn’t sure what the right word was.

If you were confused before, you thought your head might explode from how confused you were now.

“What do you mean? I’m engaged already!” you blurted, your thoughts shifting back to Ryan and him kicking you out. “I mean… technically” you added with a sigh.

He simply smiled at you then, though it made you uncomfortable. Like you had ants crawling up your arms. “I hope you find him soon, then” he murmured, sweeping his slopping arms in a circle to conceal himself in darkness yet again.

You found yourself suddenly falling, falling faster and faster until you hit rock bottom, your body.

 

* * *

 

 

You woke with a choking gasp, the pain splintering through your throat as the muscles tensed in response. Gulping in air, you would have reached for your neck or even moved to get the pressure off your elbow wound, had it not been for the zip tie pulled tight around your hands.

Panic rose in your chest as you took in the dingy garage you were kneeled in the corner of, it was somewhat barren. A tool bench with no tools, the floor didn’t have so much as a rusty nail or staple, and the large… something hidden under a tarp in the corner across from you. There was nothing that looked even moderately helpful, not that you could reach it.

Whoever zip tied you did a damn good job of getting your arms as tight together as possible behind your back. It was like you were nearly glued to the wall, the ring holding your zip tie prison was embedded in the cement. You tried to curse under your breath only to suck in air in pain. Your vocal cords were pretty shot at the moment, even a slight vibration made your head spin with discomfort.

You took deep breaths, trying to get a grip on the situation. Who had captured you? That drunk skeleton? He had a hell of a grip on your windpipe, you wouldn’t doubt that he could carry you back to where ever the hell you ended up. Or was it the guard dogs? No, that couldn’t be it. You’d be in some sort of jail… not a shitty garage. You attempted to shift yourself enough to look and see if there was anything of use under you but the throbbing pain in your elbow and neck pinned you.

If your throat wasn’t busted to shit, you would have laughed. Here it is, the way you die. By some drunken skeleton monster in underground hell itself. What would Jason think of this? Would he be sad? Angry? You weren’t completely sure. You realized then that your backpack was missing along with your phone and journal. Fuck ‘em. You’d die soon enough anyways. A rattling sigh passed through you and pinched at the nerves in your neck as you settled into your fate.

What was the point of fighting? You were just an astrophysicist that ran data, they’d find a replacement. Plus, you were pretty sure that Willow would find someone else to annoy her and crash on her couch. Surprisingly, you didn’t really care too much if Ryan found someone else. They wouldn’t know how to deal with him… how to care for him like you did. It almost made you feel a little better about your current predicament, regardless for how batshit crazy it was.

Even so, you felt tears welling in your eyes before they began to fall on their own accord. You didn’t know what the hell you were saying, you weren’t fucking ready for that. You would miss Willow, all her jokes, movie nights, and wonderful apartment. You would even miss Ryan for what little feelings he was worth. You were getting there, becoming stronger. And suddenly now you decide to crumple?

A sob wracks through you, causing you to flinch in pain and you can barely hear small whimpers echoing off the bare concrete walls. So weak. You leaned against the wall to support your shaking self and watched the tears absorb into the goggle foam through blurry vision.

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, out of the corner of your eye… you made out pink house slippers. The realization hit you quickly, doubling your trembling as you tried to back away into the wall. You didn’t want to die, not like this. Not here. Not now.

He moved closer to you and the adrenaline pushed hard enough for you to stiffen as he pulled the goggles and scarf off of you, some dirt falling on the floor with it. He had a shocked look on his… skull and you guessed it was because he didn’t realize you were a girl or maybe from seeing his handiwork on your neck. Still, the adrenaline of seeing your attacker gave you the gall to spit at his feet as he stumbled backward. Though he completely ignored it and stared at you with this weird expression on his face. What the hell is wrong with this guy?

Then he pulled himself up on his knees and reached out toward you, making you strain to lean even further away from him. He paused his movements and you saw that he was shaking too. Why? What the hell would he have to be scared of?

He murmured something that sounded roughly like your name, though you couldn’t be sure. There was also a… spark in your chest of something that felt like… recognition. Now your head was spinning again. What the fuck is going on here. You wished you could call your blob friend on command, even if he spoke in bullshit riddles. A headache bloomed quickly, though you answered his question about if you were okay with a sunken nod.

Your head was swimming as you answered his questions about not attacking him, though you were genuinely surprised about him offering a shower. At first, you wondered what the ulterior motives might be until you realized with a start that he was a god damn skeleton. What would you even do? With that line of thought closed off for eternity, you nodded hesitantly in agreement.

It wasn’t until he was sawing off your zip tie prison that you realized he was murmuring ‘I’m so sorry’ to you. The stranger thing was that you believed him instantly, with all your heart. It was a bizarre feeling. Ryan never said sorry except for a few choice times and even then you knew it wasn’t genuine. Something about all this was odd, not that it didn’t feel right… but you couldn’t help but feel like you were missing a huge chunk of backstory.

The piece of thick plastic fell from your wrists and you brought them to your chest to wring them. You had been struggling and shifting for a bit, you should have known your wrists would have some blisters. They were red and chafed, though you inspected them with him always in your peripheral. This fucker wouldn’t pull a fast one on you now.

He leaned down, offering you an outstretched hand to help you up. The gesture was nervous, as though he was afraid of you but not in the way you would have thought. You stared at it for a long moment and decided that standing on your own would be the safer route. If he was planning some bullshit trick or something, you would have no part of it.

He asked if you would run away before opening the door, mentioning that you didn’t have your survival equipment. You shook your head, of course, you didn’t need a reminder that you were completely without defense and escaping now would be stupid. Stepping past him, you shivered in the sudden wind whipping against your uncovered face and hair. Your clothes weren’t soaking wet anymore but they were certainly damp enough to chill you to your core.

You shuffled quickly ahead of the skeleton guy, who was watching your expression as the door swung open on its own accord. Unwilling to humor him, you kept your poker face on. No need to act surprised in this hell hole for another minute. You quickly bounded into the house, which was thankfully warm and quiet. Through the darkness you could barely make out a couch and a television, the basic outlines for walls and a set of stairs scarcely registering.

You watched as he closed the door behind you and motioned slowly with his hands. It took a few times to understand but you finally figured out that he meant for you to stay here. You nodded and nearly fell against the wall with a gasp the next second when you saw… nothing. He had vanished into thin air! Oh god damn it, ______. Get a grip. You chastised yourself, leaning down and untying your climbing boots. They fell with a thud on the floor mat, your toes stretching out after nearly a day of being cramped as shit.

He returned a moment later, handing you your backpack and motioning for you to follow him upstairs. He even made fun of your bewildered expression from his disappearance, your only acknowledgement being a small grunt. You held the pack close to you like a life line, padding behind him up the carpeted stairs. You noticed how clean the house was, the small little knick knacks lined on the TV stand, books stacked on the end table near a comfy looking love seat, and the lone sock on the floor. It all looked so… familiar.

You almost ran into him as he showed you the bathroom, his words barely registering as you took in the normal ass bathroom in front of you. Sure, it needed some updating but it had a sink and a toilet and a shower. It was more than you could have dreamed for. You tuned back into his words, only to hear a bathroom joke. He wheezed out a laugh, an odd echoing sound coming from him.

Suddenly seeming nervous again, he almost left before asking if you were hungry. Your eyes shifted to the floor, taking stock on your hunger. You were actually starving but the nerves bundled in your chest and the danger of eating whatever weird ass concoction this place had made you gag a little. You shook your head, hearing his murmured acceptance and where you could find him after. He stepped away from the door and you closed it immediately, savoring the first inkling of privacy since you fell down.

You locked the door, checking the handle to make sure no one could get in. Not that it mattered, you supposed, but it was the thought that counts. You stripped your hiking gear off, finding all of your weapons missing and most of your joints raw from chaffing on the rough fabric. Your elbow wound had bled through the gauze already and your neck was worse than you had thought.

With a sigh, you finagled their shower into producing hot water and stepped in cautiously. How they had plumbing was a mystery to you but it’s not as though you were complaining. Your cold skin burned in the heat of the shower as your muscles finally let go of the tension and the adrenaline finally calmed down. There weren’t any shampoo or soap bottles, just bone creams and the like. You took a deep shaken breath, exhaling a soft sob.

No one knew where you were. You were alone, underground with these… creatures. Your weapons were gone, you couldn’t even defend yourself. You were completely at their mercy in this frozen wasteland. Not to mention all these feelings and dreams with your blob friend that you had no fucking clue what to do with. There was also that kid, they were still out there fending for themselves. Guilt formed a hard lump in your throat as you rubbed the hot water into your arms. You would never be able to relax again. Not until you were on the surface again.

Your hands found the tender spots on your neck, the pain throbbing as you swallowed. You didn’t realize you were crying until you heard the quiet echoes of your own sobbing. The sound made you feel even more weak and you wiped your face hurriedly. Finishing up your shower as fast as you could, you dressed with your more comfortable clothes, making sure they would still let you move quickly if needed. You ran your brush through your hair and shoved everything back in the bag, pulling it onto your shoulder and opening the door.

Trying your best to keep quiet like he was earlier, you made your way down the stairs and set your bag in the comfy looking loveseat you saw before. The light was on in the kitchen, casting long shadows on the stained carpet. Coming closer, you saw the skeleton guy sitting lazily in one of the dining chairs, a sandwich sitting on a plate in the dead center of the table. He moved the plate toward you and gestured for you to sit down, which you complied with reluctantly.

He explained that he didn’t want to hurt you and that he was sorry for strangling you, though you were a little quiet on the forgiving end. He suddenly stood and moved toward the cupboards, pulling out a few boxes and a mug. You watched him in confusion, also slightly afraid that he would pull a knife at some point. It looked like he was making tea, microwaving (they had micowaves???) the mug of water and setting some kind of leaves in it. It was only when he sat the mug in front of you that he explained it was a healing tea with a joke.

Trying hard not to smile, covering it with a sigh instead as you took a sip of the concoction. It was disgusting. Almost… slimy. Well, might as well down it. You took a deep breath and held your nose, knocking back the mug even as it burned a little going down. The pain almost immediately subsided, the throbbing from your throat ebbing away with every second. You barely heard his second joke, more entranced with the healing powers of a hot tea.

When you were finished stretching out your injuries, he asked if you could talk and you almost laughed. They probably thought all humans were mute from the way you refused to speak and the kid that used sign language. You swallowed, rasping out a ‘yes’ in a low tone. He looked relieved for a moment before asking for your name, which you gave him even though you could have sworn you heard him use it before.

He offered their couch for you to sleep on, mentioning that no one would hurt or bother you if you returned the favor. You nodded slowly in reply, figuring that was pretty decent of him. Though, if you were sleeping on the couch, how long would you be stuck here? Would they ever let you go?

Your thoughts were cut off with his question about why you were here. You almost yelled about how he took you here unconsciously but figured he meant in a more general sense. In the underground or whatever the hell this was considered. You thought about your dreams and the blob skeleton, everything he told you and the ring that still perched on your finger out of sight.

“I accidentally fell down a hole but… I guess I’m trying to find my husband.” You explained with a shrug, peeking away from the table to take in his shocked look.

“Y-your husband?” he croaked, sweat beginning to build on his skull.

You nodded hesitantly, “I’d explain but it would make me sound insane.”

He shook his head quickly, “Trust me, Bud. You should tell me.”

Trying to ignore the confusing pang of warmth that filled your chest when he called you that, you shrugged again. “They’re just dreams. I don’t even know what most of it means or what I should do with the information… it’s a lot of uh going off my gut” you explained quietly, not trying to give him your entire life story in case things got hairy again.

You kind of hoped he wouldn’t ask anything more of you, though he _was_ letting you crash on his couch. He watched you for a moment, probably seeing if you’d tell him more before he sighed. “maybe… we should pick this up in the morning?” he offered, reaching a hand to scratch at the back of his neck as he gazed at the time on the oven.

12:XI isn’t even a time…

With a confused lilt to your brows, you nodded and carefully stood from your chair. He joined you in awkward standing with his hands shoved in his pockets, both of you unsure of how to proceed.

You cleared your throat, “uh… I guess I’ll set up shop on the couch?”

“uh yeah, heh… I think you’ll like it, it’s _sofa-king_ comfortable”

For a moment you stared at his sweating face in confusion only to crack a smile when you finally pieced it together. You peered into the living room, spying the larger couch already burdened with a pile of pillows and blankets. They at least looked… clean, you thought. Though it didn’t really help since you didn’t exactly feel safe yet.

With a pause of hesitation, you padded into the living room and awkwardly sat yourself on the cushions next to the pile of bedding. Sans was still standing near the kitchen entrance, probably trying to think of something to say, much like yourself. You fidgeted with your hands in your lap before making a humming noise.

“It’s a um… nice place you have here” you murmured, not really sure if he was done talking to you.

He nodded with a crooked smile, one that you thought suited him. “I try to get the _bona-fide_ best for my brother” he quipped, the smile twitching on the edge.

You sighed lowly, using the heels of your hands to rub at your eyes. “Your jokes suck,” you huffed under your breath.

He laughed outright at this, using a hand to brace himself on the wall. “What was that, Bud?” he snickered out, obviously trying way too hard to keep it together.

“Nothing!” you answered almost too quickly, hoping you didn’t lose your warm couch for the night.

He laughed even harder then, wiping a fake tear from his socket for added drama. You turned to face your lap in order to safely roll your eyes at him. When he finally calmed down, he patted the wall twice for good measure and pushed himself off of it to walk into the living room.

“Alright, _____. I think I’m gonna hit the hay, if you need anything at all come find me.” He told you sincerely, searching your face for… something.

You nodded shortly, the longest day of your life finally starting to catch up with you, until you remembered something.

“Hey, wait!”

“What’s up?”

“What’s your name?”

“Heh. First time for everything, I guess. Don’t usually _ever_ forget that part. But it’s uh Sans. Sans the Skeleton.”

“…Is that uhm really your name?” you asked with a mixture of confusion and shock on your features.

“Sometimes I go by Paul”

“Really?”

“Heh. No.”

You fixed him with a glare, “Well, _Paul_ , your goopy skeleton friend says hello.”

That stopped him in his tracks, you had no idea if it was possible but his face seemed to blanch at your words. “Goopy skeleton?” he asked quickly, the sweat starting on his skull again.

You nodded slowly, “Uh yeah, in my dreams… said to ‘tell Sans I said hello.’” You air quoted out what you could remember but it didn’t seem to make him stop with the sweating. Jeez… he sweats a lot.

“We’ll uh… talk about this in the morning…” he mumbled, oddly transfixed on the carpet now.

“Um okay… I guess I’ll see you in the morning then?” you offered, feeling awkward again.

He nodded back to you and snapped his fingers, turning off the lights and disappearing in one motion. You squeaked out a weird noise at the sudden darkness and absence of him.

“That was bullshit!” you whisper yelled into the house, hoping that it traveled to wherever he fled to.


	11. The Bird That Flew The Coop

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the super late chapter, this past two weeks has been crazy with birthdays and mothers day and work. Plus, I was working through how exactly I want the plot to go. Buuuut I shouldn't have any more problems as I have a little extra time this week to get ahead! :)

He couldn’t sleep he was so excited, so anxious to ask you every question under the… well ground. Not that he was exactly excited to get back to whatever hellish nightmare Chara had cooked up for him tonight. He had almost forgotten how it felt to be comfortable with someone, though he could tell that you weren’t comfortable with the situation in the slightest. It hurt him a little, seeing you so defensive and frightened… even if it did make sense.

The ceiling was as white as ever but that didn’t stop him from staring up at it and more accurately, through it. So many questions and scenarios flew through his mind. It was like the night before Christmas when he was a baby bones. What did you remember, if you remembered anything? Why was Gaster talking to you? Was he aware of what happened in the last timeline? Was he helping you from beyond the Void? Did you have a ring like his? What was happening on the surface?

Before he could think more on it, he noticed a weird noise coming from downstairs. Suddenly fearing the worst, he teleported to the kitchen and hid behind the entrance wall. He had to fight to keep his magic contained, that was all he needed, a huge noise to wake you up and a big mess for Pap to clean. A deep breath steadied himself as he peered around the wall.

You were hunched in the corner of the couch, rocking yourself ever so slightly with your legs held tightly to your chest and your forehead pressed to your knees. Or were you shaking? He couldn’t tell from this far. The position didn’t look comfortable, and he could only guess you were sobbing from the choked noises carrying over to him.

The sight made him sick to his stomach. He walked over slowly, careful not to startle you with a floor creaking or his slippers catching on the carpet. You didn’t seem to notice him, even when he was right next to you. He could feel the fear and uncertainty rolling off of you in waves. It nearly made him fall backwards from his now perching stance on the floor. It was only then that he saw your eyes were closed.

It was a nightmare? He had known your nightmares, even helped you with them. None of them were like this, a crying shell of a person who somehow ‘slept’ at the same time. He couldn’t imagine it was restful. With a worried glance to your white knuckles, he lightly shook your shoulder. But, he might as well have stuck you with a hot iron.

You jolted up, immediately wiping your face before even opening your eyes and sputtered apologies so quickly that he could barely understand half of them. He thought he heard the beginnings of a name and the promise that it wouldn’t happen again, but he ignored it for the time being. For your privacy’s sake. He put his hands up in front of him, unsure of what to do as he glanced upstairs to see that the light in Pap’s room was thankfully still off.

“Hey, shhh, come on, it’s ok. It’s ok.” He repeated, watching you suck in a few gulps of air.

It didn’t take long for you to look moderately normal again, which concerned him more than anything. The sniffles died down to small, shaken breaths and you regarded him with that same poker face you had used in the kitchen earlier.

You cleared your throat shortly yet quietly, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry if I woke you up, I promise it won’t happen again.”

He shook his head with a sigh, “Bud, you have nothing to be sorry for. Are you ok?”

You looked surprised(?) at that. Seemingly taken off guard, your eyes flitted to a stitch in the couch you were fidgeting with and a curt nod answered his question.

He nodded slowly in return, “Do you wanna talk about it?”

Your eyebrows furrowed, the stitch in the couch becoming more undone between your fingers. After a deep breath, you met his lights then.

“I have nothing to talk about”

So that’s how it was gonna be, another difference in timelines. He nodded again regardless and stood, disappearing into the kitchen. Your quiet gasp never failed to put a genuine smile on his skull, he was finding. The little things, Sans. He flipped the light on and rummaged around in the cabinets before setting the kettle on again. It didn’t take long for the water to start steaming and within a few moments, he had your favorite tea made.

He returned to the living room with two steaming mugs and handed one to you. You accepted it hesitantly, peeking into the mug and letting out a sigh of relief. He guessed it was from realizing it wasn’t sea tea and snickered a little before settling into his usual spot on the couch. You watched him warily but he pretended not to notice, better to keep things casual, right?

With that thought in mind, he picked up the remote off the floor and turned it on, only lowering the volume to 3. It was an old rerun of Mettaton’s cooking show but it was better than awkward silence. Out of the corner of his socket, he watched you take your first sip of tea, not taking your eyes off the dramatic robot on the screen.

You tasted it for a moment before the first pleasant expression he’d seen all night graced your tear-stained face. The sight made his soul lift, if only a little, at least you still loved his tea. He could sense your mood lighten as you guzzled down the hot beverage, a contented sigh leaving you as you set the empty mug on the side table.

“Feel better?” he asked quietly, taking a sip from his own mug.

“Uh yeah, actually… thank you” you murmured.

He nodded, watching the steam curl above his cup. “’s no problem”

There was a long moment before you broke the silence again, your voice squeaking at first. “So who-uh who’s upstairs?” you asked tentatively, still in your crunched position in the corner.

His lights glanced up at the cracked bedroom door at the top of the stairs, the soft glow of his nightlight reinforcing his existence. “My brother and his friend” he informed you, unsure of if he should tell you that Frisk was here. You could think they were kidnapping them or who knows what else. Better safe than sorry… at least until morning. Then at least they could explain themselves better after you’d had a bit more rest.

Your eyebrows raised as you peered up the stairs toward the door. Sans suddenly got a protective urge in him, however it was immediately squashed down almost in anger. You would never harm Papyrus. No matter what timeline. Nevertheless, his little voice found him again. _What if Chara is still with them? You saw the weapons in their backpack. Who knows what they’re capable of now!_ He shook the thoughts from his head, fuck that. He would make this right, even if it killed him.

He cleared his throat, “Do you have any siblings?”

You replied instantly with a short “no” that left no room for questions. Your face gave nothing away either. This was going to be a long night.

He sighed, “So, tell me about the goopy skeleton”

You glanced to the side table for a moment, perhaps choosing your words. He couldn’t help but stare at the way your halfway dry hair twisted over your shoulders, the gentle rise and fall of your chest making him wish he could sleep on your chest like he used to. The thought of falling asleep to the rhythmic sound of your heart beat made his soul squeeze in anticipation. He couldn’t wait.

“He was in my dreams twice, the first time was… a bit ago.” You began quietly, gripping the couch cushion beneath you. “I’m not sure where we were but it was… _unsettling_. He never told me all that much, just to tell ‘Sans’ he said hi, that I was looking for my husband, and that I should go to Mount Ebott but he never said why.”

He watched you, surprised to learn that it was indeed Gaster that led you to the mountain. His smirk became genuine as he sent a silent thank you to the old bag of bones. You seemed to be done with your explanation, focusing more on the near silent television playing weird shadows on your exhausted features.

“Was that what your nightmare was about? The unsettling place?” he asked cautiously.

You peered over at him, searching for something in his expression maybe. “No” you answered in a small voice, moving your gaze back to the couch. Watching you for a bit longer, he sucked in a breath.

“I know you probably won’t believe me, but things will get better. I have a good feeling.” He offered with a soft smile, the one he knew to make you blush. Though, this time it was only a slight smirk at the corner of your lips. He would take it. It was more than any of your other reactions.

“I appreciate that” you murmured, pulling your knees to your chest again.

You both fell into a comfortable silence and before long he was throwing puns out at every 15 minute interval Mettaton brought to the table. He got you to laugh twice, which was an achievement in his book even if they were short and quiet. It took a few hours but you started to yawn and he stood, figuring it was time to go back to sleep. It was nearly four in the morning anyways. He stretched a little, not really looking forward to trudging back upstairs.

He stepped around the blanket that had created a puddle of softness on the floor to turn off the light on the side table when you suddenly grabbed his sweatshirt. His lights flicked to you instantly, movements paused. You looked more tired than he had ever seen you, though it did look cute. Your lidded eyes and slightly messy hair, the only thing off-putting was the sad look on your face.

“P-please don’t go” you whispered, voice cracking.

He thought he felt his soul crack too from your quiet pleading and he immediately nodded. You visibly relaxed then, settling back under the blanket. He sat back on the couch, closer this time just in case. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw your slight blush and the distracted way you were watching the late night infomercials. You mumbled a ‘thank you’ to him and he nodded again, slouching comfortably next to you and cracking a pun over the expensive kitchenware that Papyrus would no doubt beg him to buy.

An hour went by, then two before he heard soft snoring from you. He sighed to himself, glad that you were at least getting some sleep. He was about to get up from the couch when you shifted in your sleep, leaning your head against his shoulder. Frozen, he checked to see that you were indeed still asleep. Welp. He’s sleeping on the couch. There’s no way he’d be moving now.

Luckily, the remote was in arms reach and he clicked off the old piece of shit. The house settled into silence, leaving him to listen to your slow breathing and the quiet ticking of the clock. Slowly but surely, he slouched further into the couch and you snuggled further into his side. He had to fight back the giddiness in his chest at the contact but he was eventually able to fall asleep, your heartbeat clear as day on his arm.

 

“SANS! WAKE UP YOU LAZY BONES!! THERE’S ANOTHER HUMAN HERE!”

_shit._

It felt like maybe five minutes had passed and judging by your tired grunt next to him, you agreed. He sighed deeply, nearly shaking you off him. Opening his sockets, his brother was at the bottom of the stairs with his hands on his hips, looking impatient. Frisk was behind him, holding onto one of his long legs and looking a mixture of scared, curious, and mischievous. He grumbled, sitting up slowly and gently trying to adjust you against the couch.

“Sup bro”

“DON’T ‘SUP BRO’ ME. WHERE DO YOU KEEP FINDING ALL THESE HUMANS?!”

Sans shrugged, feeling well rested despite the ache in his back from sleeping on the couch. He could barely hear his brother, more focused on you now that he had his wits… sort of. You looked more serene than ever before. Your hands were clenched into loose fists near your chest as you snuggled into the cushion. Your hair falling around your face in messy tangles that somehow looked perfect. He couldn’t look away.

“SANS!” His brother called again.

He blinked, “Uh sorry, what were you saying?”

“I WAS SAYING THAT FRISK TOLD ME THIS HUMAN WAS VERY DANGEROUS! WHY ARE THEY SLEEPING ON OUR COUCH?!”

“It was just a misunderstanding, Paps” he explained, sitting up fully and running a boney hand down his skull.

Frisk ran up to him then, strategically staying on the side farthest from you as they frantically signed to him in confusion. _‘What happened! Is Mom okay? Why is ______ here? Why did they have a gun?!’_

He patted their shoulder gently, a poor attempt at calming their frantic signing. “Kid, everything is fine. But _____ is bone tired. When they wake up, just be careful about asking too many questions and scaring her. She was pretty shaken up and uh… _doesn’t remember a whole lot._ ” He explained, leaning toward them at the end and hoping they got his hidden meaning since Pap was here. They peered over at you and back to him before nodding slowly. Well, at least Frisk was calmed.

They ran back to Papyrus, signing that it was okay to him before suggesting that they go make breakfast spaghetti. A shrill gasp was his answer as the little one pulled him by the gloved hand to the kitchen. Sans let out a relieved sigh glad that that was over. A quiet hum next to him made his skull whip around to face you.

You were slowly waking up, shifting yourself on the cushions and rubbing your eyes. “’Mornin’ sleepyhead” he murmured, a small smile finding him as he watched you. You froze at his voice, your eyes popping open as you took in your surroundings. “Hey,” he began, “it’s okay, you’re safe.”

You relaxed slightly, giving him an apologetic look. He gave you an easy smile in response, hoping to quell your worries at least for the moment. You stiffened again when you heard the clattering of pans in the kitchen and he almost laughed. You glanced between the kitchen entrance and him with a worried expression.

“Uh, that’s my bro and his friend, remember”

“Oh… right” you rasped quietly, clearing your throat.

His soul lifted at the sound of your morning voice. It was one of those small things he didn’t know he missed about you until he heard it again. He had to be patient though, you didn’t remember him. He’d have to remind you how much he loved you every day. He didn’t mind, actually… _he couldn’t wait._

“They’re making breakfast, wanna join them?”

Your eyes flicked to your blanket as you distracted yourself with adjusting on the couch. He knew this from experience, you were uncomfortable but didn’t want to say anything or seem weird. Without thinking, he put his hand on top of yours.

“You don’t have to do anything that makes you uncomfortable, Bud” he assured you.

It was like your shoulders fell three feet in relief. You gave him a small apologetic smile and looked down.

“Hey, don’t feel bad. I’ll grab you a plate, ok?”

You nodded and he patted your hand before getting up. You looked like you were going to say something and thought better of it, but he didn’t want to pry while you were already uncomfortable.

He shuffled to the kitchen and grabbed two plates out of the cabinet, happy that Paps and Frisk were at least having fun. Frisk was sitting on his shoulders and stirring the noodles while he added sauce and spices. He really was getting better at making the stuff. He had been sure to tell him that glitter was poison to humans among other things. He tossed the plates on the counter and opened the fridge, taking a swig out of the ketchup bottle after a quick shake.

“Brother, are you sure about that human?” Papyrus asked meekly, not looking up from his pot of noodles.

“’course bro, she’s _impastable_ not to like” he quipped, watching his brother’s concerned expression turn to rage in seconds.

“NO PUNS IN THE KITCHEN!” he shrieked, nearly knocking Frisk off of his shoulders and into the pot.

Sans chuckled to himself, raising a hand to lower Frisk to the floor with his magic. That was the last thing you needed to see, a little kid in a monster’s cooking pot. He kicked the fridge door shut, picking up the plates from the counter and handing them to Papyrus. His brother angrily slopped the spaghetti on the plates and handed them back.

He snickered a little more at his brother’s irritation. You would love Paps, he could just feel it. Who wouldn’t?

He ruffled Frisk’s hair on his way out of the kitchen only to see an empty couch. Hm. The front door was cracked open too... SHIT. He set down the plates immediately, checking to see that your backpack was missing as well. A panic set into his chest and he teleported to his room to find his closet ripped apart and your weapons gone. There was no doubt in his mind, though he didn't want to believe it.

You had run away.


	12. Hide and Seek

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda longer one! : D

You woke to yelling, but for once you had the good graces to not jolt up and apologize profusely. This wasn’t the time or place for apologies. It was the time and place for surviving. This ‘Sans’ guy had shown you that these monsters were not only terrifying, they were manipulative too. You knew all too well how to play that instrument.

The nightmare wasn’t planned of course. If you could have gotten a better night’s sleep, that would have been preferred due to the current circumstances. You didn’t expect him to be there when you woke up, though it was embarrassing all the same. The numbness carried into the night, even if he tried to be ‘nice’ and ‘understanding’. Sure. That wasn’t acting at all.

Though it felt like you belonged here, you chalked it up to being exhausted and cold. A warm blanket and couch was apparently enough to turn you into an acquaintance of sorts with the very same skeleton responsible for the faded bruises on your neck. You reminded yourself that he apologized and also healed them but the raw violence was still there. The flaming eye that struck fear into your chest whenever you closed your eyes.

You wouldn’t be manipulated. Whatever game this fucker was playing with you, it wouldn’t end with you being the loser. You just had to keep your wits about you and maybe you would get out of this hellhole alive. You might be safe now, but what about tomorrow? Or the next day? What if whoever was in the other bedroom wasn’t as ‘friendly’ as Sans? How could you defend yourself without your gun or at least a knife? Would he even protect you? _Focus, _______._

When he had left you to go to ‘sleep’, you had investigated as much as the hall nightlight would let you. There wasn’t much for weapons in the lower level, kitchen tools looking dull probably from overuse. Your silent searching in the kitchen and living room was fruitless, turning up nothing to be of use in a fight. Just… bones.

If you were a skeleton dude that choked out and kidnapped a human only to be nice later, where would you stash their weapons? The lower level was out of the question seeing as you ripped apart the couch cushions, checked all the cabinets and floor panels in the kitchen, and there weren’t any other real places to hide things. The house was pretty clean, which was surprising for being underground.

The upper level didn’t seem to have much to search either and seeing as you didn’t see anything in the mostly empty linen closet and cabinets in the bathroom, that left the bedrooms. It didn’t look like anyone had been awake in the left bedroom for quite some time. Whoever was sleeping in there must be younger considering the racecar nightlight reflecting off the ceiling or at least you think… since the door was only cracked open.

You didn’t think a guy like that would hide weapons in a kid’s room. With both the other rooms ruled out, that only left Sans’ room. It didn’t look like an overly large house from the outside, though it did appear that a balcony came off the side of the house that Sans’ room was on. There probably wasn’t anywhere to hide weapons there unless there was a box of some kind. Since a bathroom was already its own room, there probably wasn’t a private bathroom to search either.

That left under the bed, the dresser, and more than likely… the closet.

With your weapon location narrowed down to one room, you attempted to read the books on the end table. You were exhausted, sure, but you would never fall asleep being this uneasy about your surroundings. Even if you really needed to relax and rest. With a sigh, you closed the joke book that kept turning into a physics book every other page. Probably a trick or prank, Sans seemed keen on his wordplay. Pranks wouldn’t be beneath him. You curled up on the couch, pulling the blanket over your knees and sinking as far as you could into the corner of the pillows.

After a few long hours, you finally fell asleep only to wake in tears. Sputtering apologies to Sans as he watched you with a worried expression. Fuck. That was the last thing you wanted. As if you weren’t weak enough, now this asshole has something to pity you for. You hoped he didn’t hear you say Ryan’s name in your half awake panic. That would be another awkward conversation that you wouldn’t look forward to.

He asked you more questions than you were honestly comfortable answering, but you were technically still kidnapped so it wasn’t like you could say no to him. As the evening wore on though, you felt more comfortable with him. It was bizarre. He would say just the right things to make you feel better about your situation and then let the comfortable silence be. You even asked him a question yourself.

It had to be around four am when he tried to turn off the light, probably to go to bed. Your drowsy brain became panicked at the thought of being left alone and you asked him to stay with you. Now that made you fucking embarrassed. What is this? What’s going on?

You decided not to question it for now, you were way too fucking tired and he was way comfier than you thought to lean on. It was probably the hoodie he was wearing but it was better than your pillow and warm. Before you knew it you were knocked out, bringing you to the situation you were in now.

“SANS! WAKE UP YOU LAZY BONES!! THERE’S ANOTHER HUMAN HERE!”

Shit.

Stay calm, _____. Don’t show that you’re awake, this might be an opportunity to learn about them. Even if his brother is really fucking loud.

“Sup bro”

“DON’T ‘SUP BRO’ ME. WHERE DO YOU KEEP FINDING ALL THESE HUMANS?!”

You felt Sans shrug lightly beside you, shifting your position slightly. You nearly forgot that you fell asleep leaning on him, you wondered if this was weird or inappropriate. But the tone of his brother’s voice seemed more concerned with you being human more than anything.

“SANS!” His brother called again.

“Uh sorry, what were you saying?”

“I WAS SAYING THAT FRISK TOLD ME THIS HUMAN WAS VERY DANGEROUS! WHY ARE THEY SLEEPING ON OUR COUCH?!”

Oh fuck, you were boned now. _God damn it_ , he has you making puns. Frisk must be that little kid? You wondered if they knew where the kid was or if they had just met in passing. They weren’t in the garage so that was out of the question. Regardless, you remembered where your backpack and the exits were as best you could with your eyes closed. Better to be ready if things become hostile.

“It was just a misunderstanding, Paps” he explained, sitting up fully and adjusting you against the couch so you didn’t fall over awkwardly. Well… that was… considerate of him. Sticking up for you and making sure you were comfortable… Shit, stop sticking up for him!

You heard the pitter patter of small feet on the carpet, stopping near the couch. Wait, small feet? Was it… Frisk? He did say that it was his brother and his friend. Maybe they were talking about the kid! Sans patted something, bouncing the cushions slightly.

“Kid, everything is fine. But _____ is bone tired. When they wake up, just be careful about scaring her. She was pretty shaken up and uh… doesn’t remember a whole lot.” He explained, shifting the cushions again. Okay, so Frisk was here. And they seemed… comfortable with them?

You nearly face palmed before remembering you were ‘asleep’. If they were manipulative with you, you can only imagine the kind of things they said to this vulnerable little kid. They probably didn’t know any better and just assumed they were fine. You heard the padding of feet running back toward the stairs and a long pause before his brother let out a shrill gasp. The footsteps moved to the kitchen and you heard Sans sigh next to you.

Figuring the situation was over, you hummed contentedly as if you had just woken up in a comfortable bed instead of a lumpy couch. You sat up and rubbed your burning eyes, shit, you were still tired as hell. That’s disappointing.

“’Mornin’ sleepyhead” he murmured. You froze at his voice, your eyes popping open as you took in your surroundings with feigned shock. “Hey,” he began, “it’s okay, you’re safe.”

You relaxed slightly, giving him a fake apologetic look. Or maybe it was real... you did feel a little bad for being so sneaky with someone that seemed so genuine and willing to help… but then you remembered how you got here and the feelings disappeared faster than they came.

He gave you an easy smile in response and you stiffened again when you heard the clattering of pans in the kitchen and he let out a weird huff bordering on a laugh. You glanced between the kitchen entrance and him with a worried expression.

“Uh, that’s my bro and his friend, remember”

“Oh… right” you rasped quietly, clearing your throat.

 “They’re making breakfast, wanna join them?”

Your eyes flicked to your blanket as you distracted yourself with adjusting on the couch. Before you could react, he had his hand on top of yours. It was surprisingly warm and made your heart leap into your throat.

“You don’t have to do anything that makes you uncomfortable, Bud” he assured you.

It was like your shoulders fell three feet in relief. You gave him a small apologetic smile and looked down. _Remember that he choked you, remember that you were zip tied to the garage wall!_ Wanna-be serial killers don’t get passes on shit like this.

“Hey, don’t feel bad. I’ll grab you a plate, ok?”

You nodded and he patted your hand before getting up. Immediately, you missed the warmth. The house must have gotten colder in the night. That had to be it. For some reason that you couldn’t explain, you didn’t want him to leave the room. It was a dull pain in your chest, one that reached for him.

Fuck, stay focused, ______! This is your chance!

He gave you a weird look for a moment before turning and slowly shuffling into the kitchen. You wasted no time in tossing the blanket to the floor and swiping your backpack from the loveseat. As quiet as you could, you took the stairs two at a time and carefully stuck to the wall in case the floor was creaky. His bedroom door was unlocked, which for some reason you thought was odd.

Weird feelings aside, you slipped in, careful not to make the door squeak as you did. The room was a fucking pig sty. Not that you were surprised but… there was a god damn tornado of trash in the corner. Fucking focus. You shook your head of the mild shock and took quick strides to the dresser, pulling open drawers that were mostly filled with trash or books. Not there. The last place was… the closet.

You ripped open the accordion door and rummaged through the dirty clothes, tossing your weapons into your bag as quickly as possible. Your heart was beating out of your chest, what would they do if they found you here? Kill you? Lock you up again? You decided not to find out and threw the last of your precious lifelines in the pack before slinging it back over your shoulder and nearly running through the hallway and back down the stairs.

The sound of Papyrus yelling assured you that they were still talking and you quickly moved to your boots by the door. You shoved your thickly socked feet in the hiking boots, not bothering to lace them and threw open the front door. **Freedom!** You practically screamed the word in your head. Your heartbeat nearly matched the sound of your footsteps crunching in the snow, moving you further away from your captors with every step.

For a moment, you felt guilty. That Sans guy wasn’t so bad, he actually helped you… sort of. But maybe he was just faking it? Being manipulative? Who knows what he was planning. Either way, you weren’t sticking around to get choked out again whenever you pissed him off or if he just felt like it. The guy was strong as fuck, no doubt about it. They didn’t seem violent or even rude toward Frisk though, that made the guilt ease up… if only a little. They would be fine, you assured yourself.

And if not, you had a backpack full of weapons to help them out now.

Glancing behind you, there was nothing but a snowy gust of wind and the crunch of your shoes. Perhaps they haven’t noticed yet? You slowed to a walk, your burning throat and lungs thanking you. Now was probably a good time to readjust your weapons. You slunk back, into the tree line and crouched behind a fairly thick cypress trunk a few trees back. Swinging your pack off your shoulder, you quickly tied your boots again and rummaged through the plethora of weapons.

Your goggles and bandana were back on first, seeing as it seemed to help you blend in before. Your knives and ammo were all back in their respective places, and you were checking your handgun for anything wrong. Who knows what that bastard did to it. You had nearly finished putting the gun back together when you heard the crunch of footsteps in the snow. Panicked, you assembled the chamber faster than you could remember and loaded it, leaning the gun and your head against the bark. Please, don’t find me. That weird soul tugging feeling was swimming in your chest again and you took a deep breath to get rid of it but the feeling was stubborn.

It had to be him. There was no other kind of electricity in the air that compared, it set all your muscles on edge and made you grit your teeth but for some reason… you wanted more. Deep breaths, ______, deep breaths. God, if you ever got out of here… you were going to be seriously fucked in the head. The thought made your hair stand on end and you cocked the small handgun in fear as the footsteps stopped not far from where you were.

“ **Where are you!** ” he yelled, though he sounded worried. Don’t believe him, it’s a trick. You swallowed. “Come on, you can’t stay out here in the cold!” he nearly pleaded, sounding strained. Closing your eyes, you tried to make yourself smaller, god forbid he find you and end it all right here.

Your eyes popped open when he made a loud frustrated noise and something like a… laser? burned the tops of the trees to your right. Frightened birds flew away from the branches and your stomach dropped at the sight. Holy shit. **_Holy shit._** You’re going to die by lasers. Oh god. You felt sick and shakenly clutched your gun to your chest. An echo of heavy breathing reached you and you guessed it was him.

The heavy breathing turned shaky for a moment and you became confused, was he…? You heard a sniffle. He’s… crying?? What the fuck… this guy is seriously fucked in the head. You always sort of knew you’d die by crazy person.

“ _Please_ … _____, come home” he murmured, and if the wind hadn’t carried it, you may not have even heard it. A moment later, the forest was silent. No electricity, no sobbing crazy skeleton, no lasers, or crunching footsteps. Just silence.

You figured he must have done that teleportation thing he does and sighed of relief. Fuck. You nearly peed your pants. Sitting there for a moment to gather your thoughts, you almost felt… bad for him. Your chest felt tight and heavy all at once but you couldn’t make sense of the emotions. Not now, not when you almost died. Shakily, you stood and holstered your gun. Hopefully it would stay there for longer than ten minutes this time. Peeking out into the clearing, you were right, the snow was tossed around a little bit but there was no sign of the distraught skeleton.

Time to move forward…

Soon, you reached a long rope bridge over what seemed like a never ending drop in the earth. It was kind of rickety, and made your stomach turn in knots at the sight. Cautiously, you stepped on a wooden board to test the durability and were surprised when it wasn’t actually rickety at all. Magic, you supposed.

You noticed the air getting warmer and you sighed, the cold was getting a bit old anyways. Though, the further you walked, the warmer and more humid it got. Puzzled, you came across what looked like a border. The snow just… stopped. And sand started? You shook your head, no time to be admiring the weird ass scenery. You took a tentative step into the sand, finding it more like sandstone than anything. The sound of rushing water calmed you, and you moved forward.

There was a small river next to you, though it didn’t really seem to go anywhere. There were a lot of streams and waterfalls that just seemed to drop off and fall into the nothingness below. It was all so bizarre. You passed a monster on the way through, an orange looking fellow that was playing on his phone next to a weird alien looking plant that glowed. He paid you no mind so you ignored him too, settling for inspecting the empty guard post next to him. You figured that the first one you saw was manned by Sans from the joke books but… who was supposed to be here?

You decided it didn’t matter and pushed forward, coming to a stop in front of a larger waterfall. It looked like you could wade through it, maybe if there weren’t rocks that came down with the water. You huffed, pacing in front of it for a good minute before yelling YOLO in your head and wading across as quickly as you could. The water soaked through your pants and shoes, a weird slimy feel coming with it.

Shaking off the most water you could, you grumbled about wet socks with a sigh. This was going to be a long ass trip and wet socks would definitely mean blisters. Up ahead, you spotted tall grasses. They were taller than you, at least by a foot and covered the whole path. You hoped there wasn’t such a thing as monster ticks or you would be fucked.

You parted the grass and began to sidle through it when you heard a metal clanging noise above you. Peering up toward the cliff, you saw what looked like a knight. A knight with one piercing eye and a glowing blue spear in their hand. Holding your breath, you tried to shrink in on yourself. It seemed to work, they gave the area a lazy glance and backed away. The metal clanking moved further and further until you couldn’t hear it at all.

Was everything in this place trying to fucking kill you? Jesus. You parted the grass on the other side and stepped through, quickly moving to the lily pads before you. The puzzle wasn’t that hard, you solved it in a matter of minutes. Crossing the bridge, you wondered how to use the lily pads to get over to a seemingly blocked off area. It took a few tries but soon you were crossing another bridge that led to a lone bench and another alien flower.

There was a sort of… quiche? Sitting under the bench. You wrinkled your nose at the thought of how old it must be and sat on the bench to rest. It was nice to forget that you were running for your life, if only for a minute. This place would be really beautiful if there weren’t people constantly trying to kill you. You nearly had a heart attack when the alien plant whispered _‘I just wasn’t ready for the responsibility’_.

What the fuuuuuck. You stared at the plant for a long time, wondering if it would say more, but it only repeated the sentence, making you feel uneasy with such a depressing sentiment. You sighed, resting time over. With a small glance back at the plant, you left the isolated area and used the next bridge to leave.

You entered a room with more alien plants but what pulled your attention was the bright stones and gems littered amongst the rocky ceiling. The plants whispered things as you walked past but you tried to ignore them, they were all so depressing. You did stop for the telescope though, a smile stretching your chapped lips for the first time since you dipped out on the skeletons. How did they even know about telescopes or stars? Maybe books? But that didn’t explain the slightly out of date and banged up piece of equipment in front of you.

It was hard to see them with your goggles but you got a relaxed feeling in your chest over the familiar feel of a telescope in your hands. It said ‘ _check the wall_ ’, such a curious thing to write on a telescope. Not wanting to stay in one place too long, you patted the old piece of junk a few times before pushing on the sandstone wall and revealing a doorway. It seemed to lead to a deck of sorts, maybe a wooden bridge to something.

On the walls were what looked like ancient tablets with writing on them, you peered closer to read them, seeing as there was no one around. It told about the war between humans and monsters, how they didn’t know why it started. You had never heard of such a thing. It then went on to say that human souls were more powerful but after they died, a monster could absorb it to become all powerful. The last slab of writing showed a drawing of a large beast, a cartoon heart in the center of its chest. You gulped at the information, was that why everyone was trying to kill you? To get your soul? To absorb it and become… whatever the hell that was?

Your head was swimming, everything starting to come together. The skeletons were nice to you because they wanted your soul. Everyone here wants that kind of power, who wouldn’t? You felt a panic attack rising up in your throat like bile and you fought to push it down. Sinking down against the sandstone wall, you tried to take deep breaths. Did that mean… Frisk… was _dead_? Was there already an overpowered monster? What would they even do with that kind of power? Kill all the humans?

You swallowed the lump in your throat, forcing yourself to calm down. Freaking out over this would not help your cause, you needed to get up. To fight. Do something other than panicking against a wall. With shaking limbs, you pulled yourself up and rubbed your face under your scarf. Pull it together, now you know what they want. Just don’t let them have it.

Deep breaths, you reminded yourself as you stepped on a small platform. It surprised you by starting to move, pulling you through the water at a pace that made you crouch to avoid falling off. It finally reached another deck of sorts and you stepped off, fearfully watching as your only way back to where you came from was rushing through the water at a breakneck pace away from you. With a sigh, you turned and started to walk down the pier.

This part of the wooden platform was substantially creepier than all the others, the glowing plants nowhere to be found. Just dark eerie shadows that made your hair stand on end. You were starting to get suspicious, your hand instinctively reaching for your holster when a glowing blue spear planted its head at your feet. You stumbled backward, regaining your footing as quickly as you could to face your attacker.

The knight with the piercing gaze locked eyes with you and gripped another spear above their head.


	13. Water You Waiting For?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is late, I had to work this morning  
> Some guy yelled at me today and I cried in the back room  
> but at least I got this chapter out : )

One second. Two maybe. They were fast, whoever they were. You barely had time to roll out of the way before the javelin whistled past you to dissipate into the cave wall. The wooden dock under your feet groaned from your weight, shifting slightly in the murky water. Shit, this thing better hold up. You could dodge well now but not so much while wading water.

The knight moved clunkily toward you, though its arms threw spear after spear at you. Breathe, get control of the situation! You sucked in a breath, leaning to the side to avoid the glowing harpoon and reaching behind you to grab the thin metal on your back. It slid out of the back pocket of the backpack with ease, snapping open to its full length with a flick of your wrist.

Sure, this was meant more for deer hunting, but the idea still stood. Fight fire with fire, spears with… arrows? Close enough. The knight seemed shocked by your bow for a moment before whipping another projectile in your direction. You back pedaled to the edge of the dock, the waves from your dodging causing your ankles to get splashed. The spear landed in the wood, evaporating into nothing before your eyes as you unzipped the tall side pocket.

You side stepped away from the edge, pulling out the arrow pieces and quickly screwing one together. Another javelin flew past your head and you could have sworn you felt heat against your scalp. The sensation made you swallow tightly as you nocked your arrow. The knight let out an irritated growl, throwing their readied spear to the ground and stepping forward to slowly raise their hand up from their waist.

It was then that you noticed the ground began to glow as their hand became more and more strained in their exertion. What the fuuuck, where do you even go?! You nearly skipped backwards, trying to get away from the wooden floor that was slowly becoming a bright teal with magic. Don’t panic. Don’t panic. Your knuckles turned white against the dark metal of your thin bow as you quickly aimed for the knight’s… arm? No, _leg_. Just need to hit in between the plates, ______, and then you could escape… _maybe_.

You took a deep breath, forcing yourself to ignore your impending death and let the arrow fly. It was a quick and deadly little arrow, except for the fact that it bounced right off of the knight’s armor with a shrill ‘ting’. For a moment, the knight paused and leaned over slightly to take a look at the now broken arrow laying at their feet. They promptly burst into laughter, booming and echoing off the metal it was contained in.

“S’THAT ALL YOU GOT?”

It was… a woman? Huh. Shame on you for thinking sexist… but she did challenge you and you weren’t exactly in a spot to say no. Without taking your eyes off her, you pulled out more arrow pieces to screw together and tried to edge your way back the way you came. Maybe you could hide in the thick of the trees to get an advantage… it was worth a shot. Oh **god.** **Damn. It.** Fuck that skeleton.

She clanked toward you at a slow pace, her hand still upraised as if it was pulling the earth up itself. Arrows suddenly appeared from the ground, nearly missing you except for your leg. You yelped at the burning sensation, your pant leg now ripped up the side and stained a dark red. Fuck, focus. Time to leave, time to leave! Gritting your teeth against the now full arrow, you turned and ran down the wooden platform.

The knight growled and yelled an exasperated ‘HEY!’ but you were too focused on pulling out the tactical rope to listen. Behind you, you could hear her gaining, the thunk of metal on wood growing louder and louder in your ears with every step. Tie faster, tie faster! You quadruple knotted the rope on the arrow, just as you were shown in class and silently prayed that Gary wasn’t a fucking idiot and showed you the wrong knot to use.

Nocking the arrow, you aimed for the thickest piece of low hanging sandstone that you could and let it loose, wheezing out a sigh of relief when it stuck. Quickly glancing behind you, you found the knight only a few yards away now and gaining. You wrapped the rope around your arm as fast as you could and jumped off the end of the platform, using your momentum to swing yourself to the other side. You landed with a heavy thump and a splash of water, looking back to find the knight standing there and looking unsure of what to do.

You didn’t waste time and turned to run, hearing the telltale splash of her probably jumping in the water to follow you. Your heart was pounding out of your chest as you rounded the corner of the dock and sprinted through the room with the telescope, screwing another arrow together as you went. You nearly jumped over the lily pads, narrowly avoiding another spear thrown at your head as you nocked another arrow. It brushed your shoulder, sending excruciating electric heat through your arm and fraying your jacket where the fabric turned darker. You swallowed your scream and took a deep breath instead, letting the adrenaline fuel you instead.

Almost there. Come on, just a little farther, you tin canned fucker. Up ahead, you saw the waterfall that you needed to cross. The one you completely forgot about… with a killer on your heels. Cursing under your breath, you looked for another way to cross and came up short. Well… you could maybe jump it, at least half way. Running up to the edge, you jumped as far as you could and landed 2/3 of the way across.

Spinning around quickly, you faced your attacker with your bow, arrow nocked and pointed right at her head. She was standing at the edge of the waterfall, spear poised above her head like before. She regarded you silently but from her grip on the weapon, you could tell she wasn’t about to let you go. You tried not to think about all the water seeping into your clothes and shoes, focusing more on keeping the arrow trained on her. Slowly, you moved backwards, your freedom waiting for you past the trees.

She seemed to notice this however, and began chucking spears at you from every angle. You ducked and weaved immediately, rolling to your side out of the water to avoid one that was aimed directly at your chest. Getting to your feet, you took off toward the rope bridge and didn’t look back, though you could hear her thundering behind you.

You got nearly halfway across before you were grabbed by the collar and pulled off your feet. It seemed like the world became slower, seconds turning into minutes right before your eyes. Panicked, you twisted in her grip and climbed up her armor with your feet, gaining height on her as she struggled to control you. Without another thought, you located the separation of plates and shot your arrow directly into her arm.

She screeched loudly, throwing you off of her with the hand still on you. With a yelp, you hit the wooden boards of the bridge and slid off the side. You managed to grip a hand on the ropes holding the bridge together even with the knight falling to her knees, causing it to jerk and sway. You looked below you, watching your bow fall further and further until the darkness swallowed it whole. The knight was cursing and yelling loudly, inspecting the arrow wound as you tried and failed to pull yourself up with your own wounded shoulder.

“YOU MOTHERFUCKER!” she hissed, slowly getting to her feet and stumbling toward you.

Panicked, you reached for a knife or gun in your pocket, glancing up every few seconds to find her tripping over herself. The height and the wounds were starting to get to you, not to mention the strain on your shoulder right now. Your head was swimming, gut churning, life flashing before your eyes as this wounded knight slowly made her way over to end you. You gripped your butterfly knife in your free hand, hoping to at least stab a foot if she got close enough.

She finally made it over to where she threw you, looming over your dangling body like she just found a hundred dollars laying on the ground. You twisted your wrist to open the knife and hid your pain with a glare as she readied another spear. Though, you had to resist rolling your eyes. Seriously, did she do anything other than scream and throw javelins? God damn it, _____. You’re about to fucking die, get a grip and stop acting like this is high school.

You readied yourself, prepared to stab a foot or calve if she actually did anything. She gripped the spear tightly, the red from her arrow wound staining the mirrored finish of the armor. You had to admit she looked badass, you just wished it wasn’t from this angle… right before your death.

**“Heya”**

Both of you froze.

Both of you turned to look at the skeleton standing at the end of the bridge. He was only a few yards away but even from here, you could tell he was sweating. He looked… angry. It unsettled you much like it did that night in the bar and the forest earlier today but this time it was directed toward the knight. Confused, you looked up toward the looming woman just as her spear dissipated. Man, you weren’t sure how much longer you could dangle like this, your hands were starting to get raw. Though your disappointment that he caught you again nearly made you want to let go. With a resigned sigh, you decided against it.

**"Whatchya doin'?"**

Taking his distraction, you swung yourself as much as you could with your shoulder burning at every movement and grabbed another rope to the bridge with your knife hand to help with the pain at least. You still didn’t have enough strength to pull yourself up, let alone fight both of these fuckers. You were definitely dead.

“THIS IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS” she boomed in his direction, sounding irritated and out of breath.

His smile twitched and he shrugged. “I ‘unno she _was_ passing _my_ guard posts. Plus, she’s friends with me and Paps”

She seemed baffled by this, taking a large step forward in what you guessed was a show of dominance with a snort. “SHE SHOT TWO ARROWS AT ME, ONE OF THEM LANDED!” she accused with what sounded like gritted teeth, pointing a finger at you and then her badly injured arm. You weren’t sorry.

He didn’t give the impression that he cared either though, he even looked a little... proud? He shrugged with a kind of nonchalance that didn’t connect with the rest of his body language. He made eye contact with you then, a nervous glance of sorts, perhaps to check on you before his smile became even more strained than before.

“C’mon Undyne, whaddya say we forget about all this and put aside our fish-ues?”

There was a long moment of silence before you snorted, bringing both of them to look at you in surprise. Sans moved forward a few steps, his smile twitching upwards this time. The swaying of the bridge from his footsteps made you lose your grip however, curses spewing from your mouth like a fire hose as you frantically reached for purchase.

A second later, your ears were filled with a piercing ringing noise and your chest exploded in pain. You screamed out, panting heavily as you gripped the last hope of hanging on to the bridge. As quickly as it came, the pain and ringing went away. Sans stood above you now, eye flaring with blue flame, arguing with the Undyne character as he carefully reached for you through the ropes.

Undyne huffed loudly, pushing him aside and summoning a spear. Both of you panicked, Sans’ eye growing more erratic as you readied your knife again. But instead of stabbing you, she leaned over the side and offered you the end. You glanced between her and the spear, then the spear and Sans before she wiggled it impatiently at you.

The spear was not a good idea. Sure, she pulled you up with it. Though you could have done without the agonizing pain coursing through every nerve ending in your hands. You screamed the entire heaving pull up onto the bridge, Sans berating an unfazed Undyne while you curled in on your hands.

Unable to think past the pain and the probable heavy blood loss, you turned away from them, moving as quickly as you could toward the forest. You could hear them arguing behind you through your foggy thoughts, the loud talking abruptly ending before one of them roughly grabbed you by your collar again. You took a deep breath, clearing your head as much as you could before linking your foot behind her knee and twisting in her grip again to kick her hard in the ribs.

You both fell to the wooden bridge, your ears ringing again as you shakily stood and stumbled toward the snow. They were talking to you, maybe yelling. You couldn’t hear at this point. You wouldn’t go down without a fight, you just had to make it to the woods. Make it to cover and you’re covered. One step into snow, got it. Good. Keep going.

The bridge reverberated behind you, signaling Undyne’s recovery. You spun in place, finding an irritated looking Sans and an angry as all hell Undyne. At least from what you could see through the helmet. With a shaken breath, you held your knife in a defensive position, still backing up to the woods.

“L-l-leave me the f-fuck alone” you stammered, cursing under your breath at how weak you sounded.

Undyne barked out a laugh at this, the sound echoing off the cave walls. Sans just looked… sad. Your head became foggy again as you trudged backwards, suddenly remembering your wet clothes from the waterfall and how absolutely fucked you were. You squeaked when you backed into a tree, your calf hitting the trunk and sending a shock of pain up your leg.

Sans tensed at this, you noticed, as you swallowed the sob that threatened to leave. Black spots were coming into your vision and you swayed slightly, leaning on the tree to gain some sort of balance. You were just so… tired…

Everything went black.


	14. All Tied Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some shits gon happen next chapter *finger guns*

You woke up slowly, a fuzzy feeling filling your head and mouth. You had a headache already. Fluttering your eyes open, you found that your hand was zip tied to a bed. Whose bed, you were unsure. You weren’t in their garage again… and this wasn’t like any place you had seen before. It reminded you almost of a hospital. Looking down, someone had undressed you and put you in one of those paper gowns. The thought made you blush and almost angry that someone did that while you were unconscious.

Lifting the thin knitted blanket, you could make out an angry looking calf that had black stitches sewn into it. You couldn’t move it. That’s… frightening. Peeking under your gown, you found stitches on your shoulder too. Huh. You thought you were for sure going to bleed out while Sans and Undyne bickered. Apparently not.

You tested out the zip tie, not too tight but not exactly loose. Your palms and fingers were wrapped with thin gauze, irritated skin peeking through in places. With a raspy sigh, you glanced around the room. There were machines of all sorts whirring away in the small room, a few of them familiar but most looked… different. The quiet and consistent beeping of the heart monitor was reassuring. You were still alive, just a few stitches. You were just so… tired.

Before long, you had fallen back asleep to the rhythmic beeping.

 

* * *

 

 

When you woke up again, there was a monster in the room with you. You had to blink a few times before you remembered where you were. Everything that had happened. It was a small dinosaur looking creature that wore a dress topped with a lab coat, their glasses sparkling in the fluorescent lighting. They looked to be checking on some machinery that you were hooked up to, writing something down on a beat up clip board every so often.

You shifted in the bed, wincing when your sore muscles screamed in resistance, pulling you back down into your laying position. You cleared your throat quietly, making the dinosaur monster nearly jump out of their skin. They whipped their head around, looking more anxious than anyone you had ever known.

“O-oh! You’re uh… you’re a-awake!” she stuttered in surprise, setting her clipboard down on the counter near the machines. “I’m um Alphys, h-h-how’re you f-feeling?”

You nodded shortly, gritting your teeth to mask the pain splintering through your joints from moving. She must have noticed this as she pursed her lips and shuffled over to your IV, injecting what you hoped was pain killers.

“T-Th-That should help with t-the pain” she murmured, checking the machines on your sides. You tried to ignore the way she was nervously peeking at you from the corners of her eyes, leaning slightly away. She was afraid of you, not that you blamed her. If this was what you looked like, you could only imagine the knight. Alphys waddled back over to her abandoned clipboard, quickly scribbling something. She sighed and shakily set it back down on the counter, wheeling her stool over to your bedside.

“I…” she sighed again, wringing her hands. “I wanted… to say s-s-something to y-you”

You swallowed, sinking further into your pillow as the anxiety twisted in your gut. “I-I’ve never seen U-Undyne so beat up… Not e-even after taking on a-all the dog gaurds.” She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment. “Sans vouched for y-you… but I won’t pretend that I understand w-why. Undyne is my… f-friend and yo-you put her in a hospital bed” she ground out, her voice becoming angrier with each word.

The guilt settled in your chest but you tried to ignore it as you became more afraid, she was getting pretty angry… rightfully so but still. You were tied to the bed. Panic overcame your guilt as Alphys continued, “I-I won’t hurt you. Hell, I even h-helped you.” She shook her head with a huffed laugh, “But d-don’t think for a second that you’re our friend… y-y-you shot her with an arrow! She nearly fell down... If S-Sans hadn’t…” she paused, a fist clenched in her lap as she seemingly fought back tears.

Don’t open your big fucking mouth, you’re tied to a god damn bed. Don’t defend yourself, pick your battles!! In an effort to keep yourself alive, you bit down on your tongue. It didn’t matter what they thought of you, all that mattered was that you survived. It didn’t matter that she attacked you first and you had injuries of your own. No matter how bullshit the blame game was here, you kept quiet.

Alphys rubbed her eyes with the heel of her… claw? The glasses pushed out of the way to scrub at the non-existent tears. She choked out a laugh, standing up and letting the stool roll out from under her. You watched as she stumbled backwards, letting her back hit the counter as she ran her scaled hands down her face.

“E-Excuse me for a m-moment” she rushed out, hurrying toward the door. It slid sideways like in a sci-fi movie, quickly sliding back into place. You heard muffled voices beyond the door as the guilt set in more harshly with your only threat out of the room.

You had shot someone with an arrow. From the way she talked about it, it must have been really bad. Maybe even near death? The thought of killing someone gave you a bad taste in your mouth, the turning in your stomach making you curl in on yourself. The zip tie around your wrist made it hard to be comfortable in this position but that simply made you feel worse. You were trapped. You could run… but it didn’t seem to ever end.

Were you going to die down here? Hated and constantly attacked? Your soul becoming nothing but a tool to create an overpowered creature? You brought your knees as close to your chest as your stitches would allow without pain, which wasn’t very close. Your neck was sore, the pain in your shoulder making your breath catch in your throat with every movement.

You were so tired. So fucking tired. You didn’t feel safe anywhere. That skeleton house was probably the safest you felt and even then you knew it was a trick. A long winded lie to get to your soul. Why would they care about you? You read the wall in those caves, humans trapped them underground. They have every right to hate you. To play with your emotions and life, to use your being as a step into the sunlight.

You just wished it didn’t have to be you.

The quiet ‘woosh’ sound of the door sliding open gained your attention, quieting your ragged breathing in an attempt to seem at least somewhat sane. There was some shuffling and then the roll of wheels on the floor. Great, she was back to make you feel worse. You felt tears prick at the edges of your eyes and you curled in further on yourself, glaring at the wall in preparation.

You weren’t prepared, however, for the gentle hand on your arm. You could feel it through the thin blanket, slow and comforting as it rubbed up from your elbow to your shoulder. It shocked you into staying still, the warmth from the hand seeping through the blanket and into your bones. You almost wanted to lead the hand to your sore neck but thought better of it when you recognized the slight static in the air.

“You ok, Bud?” he whispered, his voice sounding tired and strained.

You curled in further, a whimper clogged in your throat from the pain of it. It was like the question had set off a bomb on your emotions. You weren’t okay. You wouldn’t be okay for who knows how long. This whole thing was seriously fucked. He was seriously fucked. All of them were. You weren’t prepared for this, for fighting this much. You could tell your shoulders had started to shake, your lower lip quivering as you clenched the blanket in your fist.

“F-fuck you” you hissed, tears rolling over your nose and down your cheek to stain the pillow.

His hand stopped, slowly pulling away from your arm. Good. You didn’t deserve comfort anyways. You took a shaken breath, stopping halfway through when his hand moved to pet your hair instead.

Enough.

You shot up in bed, turning to face him. His expression was shocked, hand still upraised. He looked tired, more than tired. There were dark shadows under his sockets, his clothes looking more rumpled and stained than usual. Beyond that he looked… scared? _Of you?_ Regardless…you barely noticed in your blind rage.

“What the fuck is your problem! Stop… stop doing that! Stop trying to do whatever the fuck you’re doing! Don’t… don’t…!” you gasped out, feeling your chest begin to tighten. God damn it, not a panic attack. Not now, not in front of him. Tears of embarrassment and panic filled your eyes and your hands clenched at your sides as much as the zip tie would allow, even though it was bending so far that you could see the stretch in the plastic.

He stood from the backwards rolling chair, his hands raised in a defensive way as he watched you with a nervous look. God damn it, calm down! You tried to take a deep breath but only managed to hyperventilate, the emotions flooding you at an alarming rate. You were shaking, your stomach churning and chest burning as you fell back on your heels. Spots began to bloom in your vision and you barely registered the sound of the door sliding open and voices yelling.

Alphys came into view then, trying to grip your hands. She was telling you to do something along the lines of looking at her, so you forced yourself to rip your glare from Sans to her. She had a worried but nervous expression as she clutched your hand reassuringly and tried to talk to you. There was nothing coming out of her mouth though, just nonsense words.

 _You are alone, you are alone, you are alone._ It wouldn’t shut up, it wouldn’t stop. There was no end. Then Alphys was gone… and someone else was there. They were very tall and immediately hugged you. At first the gesture made it all worse and you cried out, pushing them as hard as you could before eventually giving up as they were decidedly stronger than you. You pushed and hit against whatever or whoever it was, hyperventilating against your fist on their chest as you tired out. It was just like your whole situation: trapped.

They tightened their arms around you when you ceased assaulting them, one of their hands coming up to stroke your hair. You didn’t care at this point. You were just so tired. Tired of fighting, or being afraid and suspicious. You decided to enjoy it, the small comfort that it was while you were still alive. Why did it matter anymore? You said it yourself, you were going to die down here. Why not play along with their bullshit?

The tears still fell, though they were silent now as you slumped in their hold. As you calmed, you realized how silent the room had become. Were they all gone except for this mystery person? Probably not, more than likely stayed to see the display of how pathetic humans were. The thought made you hiccup a sob and the mystery person gave you a squeeze of reassurance.

 

* * *

 

 

It seemed like an eternity had passed before the person had loosened their grip on you, letting you sit back against the wall. It turned out to be Sans’ brother, Papyrus. Surprisingly, he wasn’t looking at you with pity. He looked worried but more than anything, like he was trying to put on a brave face for you. Unsure of your emotions, you kept a stone face. Glancing behind him, Alphys and Sans were watching from the other side of the room. They looked worried, just like Papyrus.

“Human…” Papyrus started, quieter than when you had slept over at his house. You realized this must be abnormal by the way both Alphys and Sans looked to him in shock. Unable to look at him, you kept your eyes trained on the mess of blanket between you. You didn’t have anything to say, you didn’t care anymore.

“We don’t… wish to harm you… Undyne is just very… passionate-“

“about killing me” you rasped, interrupting him with a monotone.

He flinched slightly, “You have to understand, human, things are… desperate… down here. She does not mean anything personal by it.”

You looked up at him then, he was wringing his hands with a far off stare. For a moment you felt bad, though you didn’t think that was a good enough excuse to attempt murdering you. You sighed, leaning your head against the wall and closing your eyes.

“All right. Listen up. I cannot and will not trust any of you. Multiple people down here have tried to kill me. No matter what you guys say or do, I cannot forget that. I am extremely uncomfortable and constantly afraid for my life and nothing you say or do will change that fact. I appreciate your help where it’s given but it doesn’t change the fact that I just want to go the fuck home.” You rushed out, swallowing the lump that grew in your throat to fill the silence that followed.

“I… understand” Papyrus responded quietly, causing you to lift your head and meet his gaze. “But I would still like to try and be your friend, I see great potential within you! Everyone can be a great person if they try!”

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Sans stiffen, his sockets becoming void. It unsettled you but you tried to focus on Papyrus instead. He was… offering you friendship? Didn’t Alphys say she didn’t want to be friends with you? There were so many conflicting feelings, you weren’t sure what to say. He was the only one that managed to help you, to _actually_ comfort you. Perhaps Papyrus wasn’t so bad, besides, one monster friend might not be so bad. If he was your friend, you would have some kind of protection at least.

You gave him a weak smile, “I-I would like that… Papyrus, was it?”

He nodded roughly, stars replacing his usual pinpricks of light. “THE _GREAT_ PAPYRUS, BUT YOU WERE CLOSE!!” You crookedly smiled at his enthusiasm, shaking his outstretched hand.

Alphys approached then, moving toward the machines and checking them before turning to you. “Y-you’re okay now?” she asked gently, side-eyeing the high looking numbers on the machine screens.

You took a deep breath and nodded, adjusting your arm so it wasn’t pulling on the zip tie anymore. Your wrist was red and raw though from the panic attack. She must have noticed because she shuffled over to the counter and back, cutting you loose from the bed. You gave her a small, appreciative smile and rubbed the tender skin where the plastic had irritated. She returned it, even though it was barely noticeable, checking a few more numbers before leaving the room again.

Papyrus sat next to you on the bed then, his legs hanging off the side comically far. He was showing you his underground profile and his poorly photoshopped selfies, bragging about how popular he was. You listened intently, grateful for him filling the silence. You peered up to the corner of the room where Sans was still shifting his weight from foot to foot. Papyrus followed your gaze, flicking his pins of light between the two of you.

“HUMAN! YOU MUST BE… HUNGRY! YES! I WILL ASSIST YOU IN GETTING YOUR NUTRITION!!” he announced loudly, making you jump as he leaped off the bed and out the door. Leaving you alone. _With Sans._


	15. Hitched

He shifted nervously in his slippers, unsure of what to do. He couldn’t move closer to you for fear of setting off another panic attack. He was aware of the signs, that much hadn’t changed. What made him freeze in place was that you had suffered a panic attack… because of him. Because he was trying to comfort you. The way you went rigid under his touch made a lump form in his throat.

Were you… disgusted by him? Scared of him? He could understand that. He just didn’t know how to fix it or better yet, move forward at all. He was stuck in the corner of the room, watching you acting sort of… normal with his brother. You weren’t the same, but your weak smile at his phone made his soul light up. He tried not to think about how effortlessly Paps had calmed you down.

Alphys was having trouble getting you to listen, you were too busy glaring at him. Too busy _hating him._ Even when she finally got you to look at her, you weren’t there. Looking through her rather than at her as your heart rate monitor beeped a shrill alarm. He had never seen you this bad, even back then, he was always able to calm you down within minutes.

His brother peeked his head in then, looking worried as Paps’ lights met his. Sans was frozen against the counter, getting as far away from you as possible to minimize further damage. He probably looked like a heart broken wreck but Papyrus only focused on him for half a minute before turning to the source of the sobs and alarms going off.

Without a word, he strode into the room and placed a hand on Alphys’ shoulder. She looked up at him before moving aside nervously. Paps sidestepped in front of you and immediately wrapped you in a bear hug, one he knew you always loved before. The sight made his chest lighten slightly until you started thrashing against him in protest. Your cries rang louder as you tried to punch his chest with your free hand and unconsciously, he felt his eye light up in anger.

Alphys came up beside him then, visibly shaking as she locked eyes with him. When he looked back toward you and his brother, he found you sobbing harder but fighting less. You were doing that thing that always freaked him out, where you were breathing all weird and spastic. You leaned against his brother with all your weight now, crying uncontrollably against your probably now badly injured hand. He made that chest plate out of metal, you might even have a fracture. Papyrus seemed to notice your fight draining from you as he tightened his arms to get a better hold on your slumping form.

His soul ached for you, seeing you look so… broken… and strong all at once. What had happened to you to make you have this bad of an attack? He was lost in his thoughts as he watched his brother comfort his wife, his friend and former coworker checking their vitals from a deadly fight against another friend and coworker. The whole situation was making his head spin again. His brother loosened his grip on you then, letting you slump back against the wall.

“Human…” Papyrus started, quieter than Sans had heard him in a good while. You didn’t look up at him, though he could tell you were trying to pull yourself together mentally.

“We don’t… wish to harm you… Undyne is just very… passionate-“

“about killing me” you rasped, interrupting him with a monotone.

Sans could see his shoulders slump ever so slightly as he winced, “You have to understand, human, things are… desperate… down here. She does not mean anything personal by it.”

You looked up at him then, your expression looking like nothing had happened a moment ago.

“All right. Listen up. I cannot and will not trust any of you. Multiple people down here have tried to kill me. No matter what you guys say or do, I cannot forget that. I am extremely uncomfortable and constantly afraid for my life and nothing you say or do will change that fact. I appreciate your help where it’s given but it doesn’t change the fact that I just want to go the fuck home.” You rushed out, looking more tired than anything as you leaned your head back against the wall.

The words settled on Sans, an uneasy feeling growing in his gut. Would you never fall for him again? Was this another joke from the universe? Oh god, he fucked up. He fucked everything up. Don’t fall apart here, she won’t understand. Paps won’t understand.

“I… understand” Papyrus responded quietly, causing you to lift your head and meet his gaze. “But I would still like to try and be your friend, I see great potential within you! Everyone can be a great person if they try!”

The second the words were out of his brother’s mouth, Sans froze again. _Chara is not _____. ______ is not Chara. Chara is dead. No more. Papyrus is here. He is safe._ The words rang out in his skull as he tried to get a hold of his breathing. You wouldn’t hurt Paps. So far you had only defended yourself, if the knock knock jokes at the Ruins door was anything to go by. Papyrus wouldn’t attack you so he had nothing to worry about.

You gave Paps a weak smile, calming the silent storm in Sans for a moment. “I-I would like that… Papyrus, was it?”

He nodded roughly, stars replacing his usual pinpricks of light. “THE GREAT PAPYRUS, BUT YOU WERE CLOSE!!” You crookedly smiled at his enthusiasm, shaking his outstretched hand and melting Sans’ reserve with one gesture.

Alphys approached then, moving toward the machines and checking them before turning to you. “Y-you’re okay now?” she asked gently, side-eyeing the high looking numbers on the machine screens.

You took a deep breath and nodded, adjusting your arm so it wasn’t pulling on the zip tie anymore. Your wrist was red and raw though from the panic attack and the sight made his chest twist in guilt. She must have noticed because she shuffled over to the counter and back, cutting you loose from the bed and readjusting the bandages. You gave her a small, appreciative smile, the kind that you gave him when he cleaned a room and rubbed the tender skin where the plastic had irritated. Alph returned it, even though it was barely noticeable, checking a few more numbers before leaving the room again.

Then, his brother hopped on the old cot, making the springs squeak and bouncing you a few inches. You were now sitting side by side with Paps, looking at his underground profile and trying to help him figure out who was pranking him online. You seemed to be more or less calm now, though he could tell by your fidgeting that you still needed some time. Or maybe you were just anxious around Pap. Regardless, he felt out of place.

As if saying it aloud, you seemed to remember him then, looking up from Pap’s phone to him. He squirmed under your gaze and felt sweat begin to form on his skull. His brother followed your stare, looking between you and him before looking like he had some kind of epiphany. _Oh Christ, Papyrus._

“HUMAN! YOU MUST BE… HUNGRY! YES! I WILL ASSIST YOU IN GETTING YOUR NUTRITION!!” he announced loudly, making you jump as he leaped off the bed and out the door.

The room was silent for a long while as he shuffled his feet and you rubbed your arm anxiously. What was he supposed to say? _Fuck,_ he should say something. You looked uncomfortable, he shouldn’t go and sit by you. Unless that’s what you wanted? Should he sit on the stool? Were you going to say anything? Was it already too late? Did he fuck everything up already? Did you hate-

“I’m sorry”

He startled from his thoughts, blinking a few times at you. “Um… what?”

“I’m… sorry. That I freaked out and uh… punched your brother. You were just trying to comfort me and… I appreciate it, even if I don’t understand why.” You explained quietly as you picked at your nails.

He stared at you for a second in disbelief, “Bud, you never have to be sorry for anything.”

You looked up at him then, confused with tears welling in your eyes. He couldn’t take it anymore, he swiveled the stool around and sat near the edge of your bed, trying to ignore the way you pulled your legs to your chest. _Away from him._

“I don’t u-understand why you’re like this with me” you sniffled, fidgeting with the hem of your gown.

He sighed, running a hand down his skull in frustration. “It’s ah… hard to explain, Bud. I can tell you but you might not believe me and it might not make it any easier to understand.” You peeked at him from under your eyelashes, probably considering his offer.

“Here, can I see your hand?” he asked gently, outstretching his own. You nodded once, pulling your hand from your lap to rest in his palm. Even with the injuries, he couldn’t believe he forgot how soft you were. Carefully, he began unwrapping your hand.

“Hey, wait! What are you doing!”

“Just hang on, I won’t hurt you” he assured, taking his time to unwrap the tender skin. “Hey, heh, did you know that 9 out of 10 injections are _in vein_?”

You huffed to cover a laugh, looking away so he couldn’t see your face. “What? You didn’t think that one was _humerus?_ Well, I got a _skele-ton_ more. Just wait till you hear my knock knocks.”

You snorted then, using your free hand to cover your mouth as your cheeks slowly turned red. He chuckled at you, tossing the bandages to the end of the bed to look at your hand. The skin was raw in places, your palm and fingers turning colors in patches from the magic residue. He deflated a little.

“’m sorry this happened, I should have been quicker to help you” he murmured, turning your hand over in his own. “Alphys told me that your hands will be fine… but she found a ring on you that she couldn’t get off. She said she could sense magic coming from it. But um... you and I have uh… matching rings”

He inspected the ring, the one he gave you what seemed like an eternity ago. He had caught glances of it when you were staying with them but was unsure of how to bring it up. ‘hey I noticed you’re wearing your wedding ring still, wanna fuck?’ Yeah, that’d go over well. Even now, your face was scrunched up in confusion as you compared his ring to yours.

Through the raw and red skin, he noticed scars near the ring. “What happened here?” he whispered, tracing some of the angrier looking marks.

You cleared your throat, “Nothing. So, what does this mean? Why do we have matching rings?”

He sighed, maybe a later time for that. Though he had a bad feeling about the marks and how quickly you answered. “Have you heard of… the multiverse theory?”

“I used to study it in college” you reply impatiently.

“Well, what if I told you that… in a previous timeline or… universe in this case, we were heh… married and uh expecting a child? And we bonded souls in that universe, which might explain why you’re here...” he gestured to the room and more importantly the underground.

He laughed to himself for a second, rubbing at his sockets. “When we got married, I gave you that ring with a piece of my soul and you did the same. They’re magic and are supposed to keep you from harm. I guess they kind of did, they brought you back to me. I mean, I kinda fucked up in the beginning ‘cause I thought… I thought you were some fucker come to ruin this timeline and… I just couldn’t do it. I-I missed you so much, _______. I wasn’t going to let someone mess up our second chance… but I guess I did that myself.”

There was a long, pregnant silence as he guessed you were processing the information. “I-If what you’re saying is true… what-what happened to the other me?” you asked, voice barely above a whisper. He knew the question was coming. The words were stuck in his throat as the scene played over and over in his head. His fists clenched on the mattress as he screwed his eyes shut in an attempt to get them to stop. _Fuck,_ he wished they would stop.

He startled when he felt you rest your hand on his. It was warm and soft, the familiar metallic click of your ring on his bones was… reassuring. He sucked in a breath and opened his eyes, turning his lights to meet yours. You looked… confused but trying to be reassuring. That crooked smile he loved so much, the one that was taken from him. It was right here. He just had to get it back himself.

His gaze fell to your hand, “You were… murdered. By an evil human.”

A long pause.

“Y-You said that I was… that I-“

“She died with you”

A soft sob broke from you and he flicked his lights up again to meet your tear filled eyes. You had covered your mouth with your free hand, sniffling as you brought it away.

“I-I… we had a daughter?”

He laughed sadly, “Yeah, y-yeah we did. She woulda been a trouble maker too, was always kicking you.”

You laughed through your tears, wiping your eyes. “I-I bet she would have been a-amazing” you whispered sadly. He rubbed your hand with his thumb, just glad for some kind of relief. His shoulders felt lighter, though he wasn’t sure where to go from here other than answering your questions.

“You-You said that a human… murdered me? What happened to them?”

He balled up his free hand, this magic flaring up as the scene replayed in his skull again. “I wiped them from existence” he ground out, taking a deep breath to calm himself. He glanced upward to find you slowly nodding, staring off at a floor tile.

“So then… who is the goopy skeleton friend of yours?” you asked curiously, watching the cool blue swirl in your ring.

“Heh, that’s ah… my Dad. You uh met him in the last timeline. He’s sort of in a pickle right now but it’s hard to explain.”

You nodded again, seemingly content with that answer. “So that’s why he wanted me to tell you hi, this is all sort of starting to make sense. Nothing felt… _right_ up there.” you huffed with a laugh. He breathed a laugh with you, leaning on the backrest of the stool to be closer to you.

“So… now what happens? What do we do?” you asked suddenly, leaning forward.

“Well, right now, you rest and get healed up. Then we wait for Frisk to break the barrier and go back to the surface. As for us… whatever you want. We can be nothing or everything, move as slow or fast as you want, I just want you to be happy.” He explained, his heart squeezing from the truth in his last words.

You hummed and sat back against the wall. “So we just wait for Frisk to handle it?”

“Mmmmhm”

“And we just chill?”

“yup”

“Shouldn’t we help them?”

“Nope, it’s ah… timeline stuff.”

You hummed again, “I don’t know about us, I mean… I don’t remember. Literally anything about you. I would like to start as friends and see where it goes from there… if other me was interested enough to bond souls with you, whatever that means… and get pregnant then maybe… at some point we could try to be more. But for right now, I’m just ______. Not... other ________. I’m guessing I’m different in one way or another, so we’ll have to uh… start over.”

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. You were giving him… a chance? His soul leapt into his throat as he felt his grin grow wider than he thought it could. “I’d love to start over with you, bud. Besides, I think I have a better shot this time… other you hated my jokes” he quipped, leaning down to press a kiss to the back of your hand.

You snorted, “Your jokes are fucking hilarious”


	16. It's Electric!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy 4th my American friends :)

Papyrus eventually returned with food, his arms full of a random assortment of instant noodles, chips, and multiple packs of ice cream bars. Alphys stuttered to him about not giving you junk food while recovering and suggested he help her make some soup instead, leaving you and Sans together for a while longer.

You had found out that after the mishap on the bridge, you had been out for two days. Sans had stayed with you for all of it, at least as long as Alphys would let him. That would explain why he looked like he just got run over by a train. She had made him stay outside the room for the most part, guilt tripping him over his own health. Though he refused to leave even after your talk, falling asleep on the rolling stool with your hand still in his.

He had explained the timelines, all the stuff that had happened in the last ‘universe’ before he met you. About Chara and his friends, about you helping him get his dad back, and about your wedding. You listened intently to the life of your past self, amazed that you were able to rip a tear in the dark place you had visited in your dreams. Your meeting and the wedding brought tears to your eyes as you visualized such a happy setting. Something Ryan would never have been able to accomplish.

This was all so much to take in at once. You were married. With a child. And then… murdered? It sounded like bullshit but the more you thought about it, the more it resonated with you as the truth. The rings wouldn’t come off because they were tied to your soul, that sort of made sense. You weren’t sure what soul bonding entailed but you could guess it was something like their idea of marriage.

The goopy skeleton guy from the dark place being his dad also kind of made sense. They were both skeletons… though you hoped that thought wasn’t monster racism. Regardless, you had yet to see another skeleton monster down here and your goopy friend did tell you to pass on his greeting. He also told you that you were looking for your husband and that you would understand when you got here.

It was all falling into place in its own way, finding the little truths that were hidden before. Even as the pieces of the puzzle came together, you were falling apart. You peered over at him as you leaned against the pillows, snoring softly in his weird position that definitely couldn’t be comfortable. So… this was your _husband?_ The thought itself made your soul squeeze in your chest a little, giving you a weird lump in your throat even if you didn’t really know him yet. _Don’t start crying again, god damn it._ You knew he cared a lot… that he would protect you and that he seemed to go to great lengths for you.

You wondered for a moment what other you was like, what made him fall so hard that he would strangle another living being just to see you again. Right, he strangled you. You sighed at the memory, figuring if you were that in love with someone that much you would probably do the same. You wondered if you would ever find out what that was like. Maybe after a bit of time you could probably… _maybe_ forget what happened, erase the fear of that night and move on. You felt his sincerity, the regret in his words. How could you blame him? Stuck down here only to wait for some kid to _maybe_ set you free.

The only thing you could do now was heal up and wait, you supposed. No matter how insane you were going, there was nothing you could do. You wished you could help Frisk with their daunting task but Sans had highly suggested staying out of it. He wasn’t sure what you being here could set off in the timeline and he and Frisk had already worked out a plan. You believed him in that aspect, not wanting to bone (god damn it) your chances of getting free.

It seemed that it was all sort of decided for you. Weirdly enough, you didn’t mind it. After your inner panic attack had calmed itself down, the silent tears of anxiety stopping to soak into the pillows, you just sort of… accepted it. The whole thing just felt sort of… right. And comfortable. You didn’t have to fight them since you already kinda knew them.

Even now, holding his hand was making your chest lighter than before. You guessed that had something to do with magic, the healing and the emotional baggage being taken care of entirely. He explained that the sharp pains in your chest from before was your soul rejecting his in this timeline, the pain probably flaring up when you were far away or just really wanted to punch him in the face.

You smirked slightly at the thought, watching his serene expression shift with his snores. He really was… something. All that magic bundled into this small little dude. You barely knew him and you guessed he could do more than you’d seen but you were already impressed. Lasers and teleporting? And that cool flaming eye shit? Hmpf. If you weren’t careful, you’d fall before you even got to know the guy.

_What the hell are you saying, ______?_

Needing fresh air, you shifted slowly, pulling your hand carefully out from his grasp. He grunted a little in his sleep, letting his hand rest on the mattress still. You let out the breath you were holding and warily scooted to the edge of the bed, planting your socked feet on the ground. So far so good. Those pain killers were kind of working still, surprisingly. Though you didn’t want to push it.

Alphys had taken out your IV’s and monitors, since you were recovering faster than she had anticipated. A possible side effect of the magic in her pain killers and the magic from Sans’ ring, she told you. That didn’t mean that the eight stitches in your leg and the four in your shoulder didn’t still hurt like a bitch every time you moved.

You sucked in a breath as you teetered to your feet, pain shooting up your leg. You had to grab the bed frame to support yourself, until you got a grip on which angle to not walk on. They wouldn’t mind if you just walked around a little, right? You didn’t want to get bed sores anyways. Peeking over your shoulder, you saw Sans still snoozing on his stool. _What a fucking dork._

With a few well-placed steps and hands on the walls to brace yourself, you were on the move to the door. It slid open with a quiet ‘whoosh’ and revealed a white hallway. The fluorescent lights flickered lazily above you, giving the plain tile hall a weird horror movie vibe. _Oh Jesus, were you in Saw? Christ._ You glanced back at Sans to find him still napping and decided against it.

The walls were smooth as you leaned against them, making your way down the flickering path. There were a few other rooms but you could barely see in the tiny rooms without stretching your leg. Finding a stool farther down in the corner, you dragged it to the first room and shakily stood to see in.

It was a weird mishmash of creatures you had seen down here and the sight made you gasp quietly. Whatever it was, it seemed to be asleep judging by the calm up and down motions of several parts of their body. Were they… sick? Was this the equivalent of mutation or even some kind of monster disability? You weren’t sure.

You scooted the stool to each of the other doors, finding similar jumbled creatures. It had you wondering if this was some kind of rehab center or hospital just for this… disease or whatever it was. The last door is what stopped you. It was a fish woman, you guessed she would be tall and intimidating if she wasn’t hooked up to every machine in the room. Her body was massive, taking up 95% of the bed compared to your 60%. She must be like seven feet tall… _Oh. **Shit.**_

It was the knight.

A flicker of panic sparked in your chest as you hunkered lower in the window to peek. She had bandages wrapped around her shoulder and chest and what looked like dark bruises forming on her face. She only had one eye, though you kind of hoped that wasn’t your doing. Alphys was in the room as well but she wasn’t checking machines or running tests. She was holding the knight’s hand... and from where you were standing, it looked like she was crying.

_You did this._

The words rang out in your head over and over until your head spun. You needed to get out of here. Far, far away from these people. You stumbled backwards off the stool, your back hitting the wall with more force than you thought. _Your breathing is getting fucked! Get it together, _______!_ You could feel the tears welling up in your already sore eyes, muscles shaking in panic again.

Unable to fight it any longer, you sunk slowly down the wall to cradle your legs to your chest. The pain erupted through you, the guilt and fear of it all coming down on you. You heard a crash down the hall but your muscles were too stiff to do much of anything. _Just let me die here._

Someone was touching you, probably trying to calm you down. That familiar electricity was in the air so it must be him. _Your skeleton husband._ God, it sounded stupid even in your head. Loud beeping was going off somewhere but then again that could just be your ears ringing. Someone yelled Sans’ name and suddenly everything stopped all at once.

You couldn’t move. You were rooted to your spot, still panicking and still crying, but all the beeping and your tense muscles had ceased. There was a slight blue tint to your vision, turning the crisp white hallway into a poorly mixed koolaid color. Trying to breathe like this was hard, and it became even harder when you looked up to find Sans’ eye flaming and his hand raised like he was going to attack you.

Immediately, you tried to fight against the magic. Surprisingly enough, pricks of electricity started to form over the limbs that were able to slightly move in his hold. Panicked further, you began to hyperventilate as you tried to free yourself from this weird koolaid prison.

“D-Don’t fight it, Bud. Just trying to keep you s-safe” he told you through gritted teeth.

Was he… sweating? Was it _hard_ for him to hold you? _What the hell?_ You’d respond to him, but his magic was making it hard to breathe, much less talk. The door in front of you slid open, revealing a frazzled looking alphys.

“Y-you! G-get away from here! You almost short circuited my m-machines!” she accused, glaring in Sans’ direction. “I n-need your h-help, have Papyrus babysit h-her”

He looked offended for a second and then let out a forced sigh, “What if she u-uh does that again?”

Now you were confused, what did you do to fuck with her machines? Cry in the hallway? If anything, you felt guilty for what you had done, why was she being like this? Why was he still holding you now that your sobs had turned into hiccups? Why were they so afraid of you?

You sniffled and gathered up your strength to speak, “Do what again?” you rasped. Wow, that was harder than you thought. Barely got the words out.

Apparently they weren’t expecting you to speak as they both slowly turned their heads to you. Sans looked a mixture of pride and confusion and Alphys just had one emotion written all over her: fear. You glanced between them, thoroughly confused yet again.

“You a-ah used the electricity in the building to create a s-shield, Bud” he ground out, smile becoming more strained.

You ** _what._** Used the electricity… in the building… to create a shield. You. The girl who was having another panic attack. Was that considered… magic? Did you have magic?! Or was it... his? Alright, alright. Calm down, maybe it works off your emotions or some shit like that. God damn it, you didn’t need this added to your plate… just don’t think about how fucking crazy this is and focus on calming down. In and out, in and out.

“Oh... okay” you rasped, blinking at them.

Alphys was the one that looked confused now, “H-have you always had m-magic?”

“No” you muttered, your throat becoming hard to use.

Sans was watching you carefully, probably trying to see if you were lying. Alphys was in her own little world now, probably wondering how such a thing could have happened, much like yourself.

“Can you let me out, this hurts” you rushed out, swallowing the pin pricks that followed.

Sans side-eyed Alphys and she did the same, both obviously nervous about letting you go.

“Please, the only electricity I feel is Sans’” you choked out, knowing you only had a few sentences left.

They both looked at you then, Sans looking hopeful and Alphys looking confused again. Regardless, he dropped you immediately and you both gasped out from the strain of his magic. Your hands hit the cold tile, giving you a shiver as you pushed yourself back up to your knees. Looking down the hallway, you saw Papyrus holding a tray of soup, his jaw nearly hitting the tray.

“I AM GONE FOR THIRTY MINUTES AND THE HURT HUMAN IS BEING HELD CAPTIVE BY SANS?!” he called down the hall, startling both Alphys and Sans. “EXPLAIN YOURSELVES AT ONCE!” he boomed, his sockets narrowing as he moved closer.

“W-well ya’ see, Bro, _______ here was really upset and I-I couldn’t calm her down but she started using m-magi-“

“MAGIC? A HUMAN?”

“Yea…” he side glanced to you, “She used the e-electricty to make a shield…”

“I THOUGHT ONLY THE OLDEST OF OLD FART HUMANS COULD USE MAGIC!”

Sans snorted, “W-Well, yea bro, but it’s been awhile. Maybe ________ is different.”

You noticed he looked at you a little softer than his brother then. You promptly looked away.

“I HAD NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT! … WHY ARE WE ALL IN THE HALLWAY THOUGH?”

You smiled sheepishly at him, “I uh… just needed to get up and walk around for a little bit”

“A WONDERFUL IDEA! YOU WOULDN’T WANT TO LAY IN BED ALL DAY, THEN YOU’D BE JUST LIKE SANS! N’YEHHEH” he chortled to himself, earning a chuckle from Sans. “SANS, HELP DOCTOR ALPHYS WITH UNDYNE! IF SHE KNEW WE WERE BOONDOGGLING LIKE THIS, IT WOULD BE EXTRA TRAINING FOR WEEKS!! I’LL HELP ________ WITH HER SOUP!” he announced, grabbing you by the arm and yanking you to your feet.

You let out a yelp, your shoulder screaming in pain as the motion rippled through you. He let go of you quickly and before you could say a word, Sans was right next to you.

“Are you ok?” he mumbled, checking your arm.

“I’m fine” you huffed, tired of him being so clingy.

He nodded, getting the message. “I’ll uh… be in there if you need me…” he trailed off, patting his brother’s arm and reminding him to be careful with you. 

 

* * *

 

 

You both left the two scientists to tend to the knight, padding down the tile floor to find the bed it felt like you would never leave. He helped you get comfy with your tray of soup and crackers, though he was less than pleased with your manners. You couldn’t help it, it felt like it had been weeks since you had eaten. At least it was a giant bowl of soup.

He told you that he dreamed to become a chef after much training with the knight and watching late night cooking shows. You assured him that there were cooking schools and channels on the surface, which led to you telling him the basic ideas of popular cooking shows. You were appalled however, to learn that the cooking shows in the underground were mostly about humans dodging bombs and chainsaws.

You declined an invitation to be on the show.

He then pulled out a decent sized puzzle and insisted that you help him with it. It was a big picture of some macaroni noodles. This was going to take your entire life. Regardless, you were both on the tile now, Papyrus hard at work with the larger noodle side and you wrapped in a blanket and handing him pieces. It was peaceful, fun even.

That is until the door was broken down by the knight.


	17. Ghost Busters

Somehow, even with a million wires hanging off of her, she was crazy intimidating. Her one eye hadn’t left you since she busted in, panting and intending to murder you. Something about the way her eye said _‘bring it’_ made you swallow. Luckily, Papyrus had stepped in front of you. You were right about him being useful for protection, though you couldn’t lie and say you hated the macaroni puzzle. Not that the debris from her kicking down a metal door made it any easier to differentiate the noodles.

“U-UNDYNE! YOU’RE LOOKING… ER… WELL!” he boomed nervously.

For a split second, she flicked her gaze in his direction and her hard expression soured into confusion.

“WHY A-ARE YOU-“ she coughed low in her throat, “WHY- HUMAN!!” she accused, pointing toward you like it was obvious. Maybe she thought he didn’t know?

There was a silence that filled the room as Paps shifted from giant foot to giant foot, probably thinking about what to say.

“I-I’m sorry” you squeaked hurriedly, guilt pouring out of you like a faucet.

Her eye widened then, scanning your face as you tried to hide behind Papyrus. “SEE UNDYNE! ANYONE CAN BE GOOD IF THEY TRY!” he told her happily, reaching a hand down to pat you on the head roughly. Jeez, it was like you were being pat right into the ground like one of those cartoons.

She growled in response, “SORRY DOESN’T CUT IT, TWERP! YOU ATTACKED THE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD WITH ARROWS!”

“You attacked m-me with your glowing spear things” you piped up shyly, not moving any closer to her.

“W-WELL… YOU’RE A HUMAN! YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE DOWN HERE! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE TOO!” she reasoned, a daring look being shot at you from across the small room.

You sighed, figures that it would come to that. Papyrus must have heard it, he began stroking your hair gently.

“I just wanna go home, m-man” you hiccupped past a sob, taking the deepest breath you could to halt it. You suddenly felt very small in your paper gown.

Her demeanor shifted then, something akin to guilt. Was she questioning herself? You weren’t sure. Either way, Papyrus wasn’t having any of this. He gently lifted you off your feet and placed you sitting on the bed before swiftly walking toward Undyne and whispering to her now shocked face. He managed to usher her out of the room, not without a few weirdly guilty glances thrown your way.

You were alone in the silence again. You had come to hate it, the lack of noise down here. No cars, no bustling of people, just… nothing. You could hear some machines running in the hallway, but even those were quiet. If you focused really hard though, you could make out a hum. It was oh so quiet, just barely loud enough that you could hear. It was coming from you.

If you placed a hand on your chest, you could almost feel it. A telltale slight vibration of energy. Was this… magic? You wondered for a moment if your air held the same electricity as Sans’ did. Your heart swelled at the thought and you angrily brushed the feeling away. Your feelings were just that. Your feelings. No other timeline’s feelings would be mixed with yours. You made that promise to yourself in this moment. Whatever happened would be your choice. Not some girl that got murdered.

With nothing else to do and a pounding headache from thinking about all this too much, you mumbled a ‘fuck it’ and laid down for a nap. Maybe the headache would go away and the feelings would shift to the back burner… you could always hope. If not, at least you were rested and freed from the deafening silence of your prison.

 

* * *

 

 

It was probably hours before you woke up, judging by the darkness in the… whatever this place was. With your door still busted down, it was easy to see that the hall was dark as well as your room. It must be night time? Did they have that down here? Was it even correct in reference to the surface? Did it matter…? Fuck, this was starting to mess with your perception of time.

You yawned, still laying face down in the mattress. The blanket had been pulled up on you though, mentally thanking whoever was responsible. Shifting to sit up, you froze in place. _Oh hell. **No.**_ Is that a fucking ghost. A FUCKING GHOST. WHAT THE FUCK. You opened your mouth to scream but instead a raspy whimper came out. You were definitely panicking. Why the hell did they leave you here with this thing??!?!

Leaning toward the wall, you tried to adjust your eyes to the darkness but there wasn’t enough light to make anything out. How do you even defend yourself against a ghost?!?! Oh, Oh _shit._ It’s coming toward you. Oh god just play it cool, maybe it’s friendly. Or maybe it wants your soul. _Jesus Crisp._ You bit your lip and closed your eyes, figuring you didn’t want to see whatever the hell this thing was going to do.

Suddenly a light was turned on in the room, you could tell through your eyelids. Your eyes snapped open to find a very frantic and tired looking Sans holding a splattered cup of coffee, his lights scanning the now empty room before settling on you. You pointed toward where the ghost was spastically, trying to show in your expression that _holyshittherewasaghostrightthereanditstotalbullshitthattheyleftasyouturnedthelightson._

You weren’t sure he got the message as he raised a brow bone at you and then the place you were pointing.

“There’s a ghost” you whispered in rasping panic.

He laughed a little under his breath, “That’s just Burnie, he helps out with people… kinda like a nurse”

You relaxed a little, “Oh… okay.” So he was a monster then.

He visibly relaxed too, shifting his hand from the light switch to rest in his hoodie pocket as he shuffled sleepily toward the bed. It was odd to drink coffee so late, you thought. Or was it early? Was he an early riser? You couldn’t imagine that with the way he basically dragged his slippered feet each step. Maybe he just couldn’t sleep? You weren’t sure.

“Mind if I pop a squat?” he asked quietly, a lazy smirk on his skull.

You shook your head and scooted over, really just not wanting to be alone with… Burnie again. He climbed up on the bed, slumping against the wall next to you and sipping from his Styrofoam cup. You watched him for a moment, curious as to how he could drink at all before deciding it was rude to stare and focused your attention on fidgeting instead.

“I uh… brought you your journal” he mumbled, pulling out the old notebook from inside his hoodie. For a second you felt a sliver of panic, “I didn’ read it, promise.” And then it was gone. You were at least glad the pen hadn’t fallen out of the spiral, rendering the thing useless.

You took the journal gingerly, “Thank you.”

“No prob” he muttered, taking another sip of the bitter drink.

There was a long silence of him sipping coffee and you fidgeting next to him until you couldn’t take it anymore.

“How long until I can leave… here” you mumbled, glancing over at him.

He hummed in thought, rolling his skull to the side to squint at your leg. You pulled your gown to the side a little so he could look at your shoulder and for a second, you thought his face had turned blue. How weird.

“Mmmn, probably to _marrow_ ” he deducted, his smirk growing slightly as he took another sip of his coffee.

You tried not to smile at his pun but failed miserably, opting for looking toward the mattress so he couldn’t see. “Bet you think you’re soooo funny” you mumbled dramatically.

He hummed again, “You think it’s funny.”

You whipped your head up to look at him, one eye socket cracked open to watch you blush as his grin got bigger. You huffed, “whatever.”

He chuckled to himself, “So, where ya gonna go from here, Kiddo?”

You shrugged, not really sure yourself. There weren’t too many places that you could go. You could try and find a way out, but that might mess with Frisk’s plan to break the barrier or whatever. You could try and climb back up the hole you fell down but you weren’t sure if you had the strength for that, there weren’t too many places for rest on the way up.

“You always got a place with me and Paps, Bud… We’ll keep you safe” he whispered to you and your heart squeezed at his tone. Looking at him made it even worse, his expression so soft and genuine.

Unsure of what to say, you simply nodded and gave a weak smile. You weren’t sure what you wanted. Sure, you knew they would protect you. Papyrus was a decent cook, you’d at least have food. Sans always wanted to talk, so you’d have company. But… something inside of you just wasn’t ready for something like that. Something so… forced feeling. Even if deep inside, it felt right.

“What time is it?” you asked instead, motioning to his coffee. You felt guilty when a flash of hurt fell on his features, obviously hoping you would have said yes to his offer.

He cleared his throat, “Uh around 3 am”

He sounded tired and a little upset, you hoped you didn’t fuck up the conversation too bad. “Then why are you drinking coffee?” you asked, genuinely confused now.

He shifted in his seat, seemingly contemplating saying something. “I uh… don’t like to sleep” he muttered, swirling around his drink and taking a gulp this time. You nodded slowly, shifting your gaze to your lap.

“I have… nightmares too” you whispered. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw him turn to look at you.

There was a long silence before you reached your hand out, tentatively laying it on top of his. You hoped that would comfort him at least somewhat. The contact made your skin tingle, probably from magic. His hand grew warmer under yours, acting like a hot plate for your freezing fingers. The sensation made you smile to yourself and you let yourself glance up at him.

There was a mixture of emotions there, the largest being adoration and the second largest being sadness. You felt for him in that moment, knowing how it felt to try and ground yourself in the early hours of the morning only for everyone to pretend nothing happened. To try and force yourself to believe that what you were seeing, thinking, feeling, wasn’t real but just a figment of imagination. To imagine that his nightmares had actually happened, it made your skin crawl.

Maybe you could be each other’s boat in this unforgiving ocean of feelings and uncontrollable events. Something to hang on to when the tide gets too high and you feel like drowning. A lighthouse to get you back to the shore. Maybe… maybe you could be that for him like he’s been trying to be for you.

You were ripped from your thoughts when he turned his hand over, intertwining your fingers with his. You peeked up at him, his sockets closed and coffee resting on the side table now. The little shit, pretending to be asleep. Or maybe he was just comfortable, you couldn’t be sure. You yawned, the tiredness of early morning hitting you again. Maybe you could just sleep here next to him, he probably wouldn’t mind and he looked like he needed this.

Readjusting yourself next to him, you piled pillows behind both of you (with a lot of grunting and pushing on Sans) and topped it off with a blanket over your laps. You pulled your side up to your shoulder, curling into your mound of pillows. It was hard to concentrate on sleep with the light though.

You leaned toward him and whispered, “Sans”

He grunted sleepily in response, the gentle humming coming from him much louder this close.

“The light is still on, I gotta let go to turn it-“

You were cut off by his free hand raising from the blanket, snapping his boney fingers and the light immediately going out. Well, shit.

“uh… thanks” you mumbled, his only response being another grunt as you curled back into your cocoon of pillow and blanket.

 

* * *

 

 

The next time you woke up, it was to music. It was faint… but impossibly fast. Like someone’s metal garage band was playing in the apartment two floors below you. Though, for some reason, you found it soothing and even familiar. You sighed sleepily, nuzzling further into your pillow. Except your pillow was… hard. Confused, you opened your eyes a crack, blinking stupidly as you surveyed your location.

Still on the bed, okay. Still in this stupid wanna-be hospital place, okay. Still laying against a skeleton, _o-_ **_oh my God what the hell._ ** You stiffened, peering at him under you. You were both still sitting up, thank god. But it seemed in your sleep that you had leaned into him, taking up residence under his arm and against his chest. Trying to move was out of the question, he just held you tighter.

It really wasn’t that bad, just… compromising. He was so warm and anywhere skin touched bone was tingling pleasantly… **stop that!** You really just wanted to comfort him if he was having trouble sleeping. He told you what had happened before, all the murders and loss he had gone through alone. You knew how it felt to be alone. If you could offer him some consolation then so be it… but this… man, if Papyrus walked in right now. Hoo, boy.

As if on cue, he shifted slightly and groaned under his breath. You soaked up all the comfort you could, preparing for it to end. Even you needed comfort sometimes, though you were too stubborn to admit it. He rubbed his hand up and down your arm, kissing the top of your head. Was he awake? Did he know what he was doing? You sincerely hoped he couldn’t see your blush that was steadily spreading from your face to your neck.

He stretched a little, settling into the mattress some more. “g’morning, Babe” he muttered against your hair, still being impossibly comfortable for a skeleton. You stiffened at the ‘babe’ and tried not to move until you were sure you could escape… though it was super warm and comfy.

“Uh… good morning…” you mumbled, unsure of how to respond to being called babe.

He stiffened now too, jolting a little in place. “Oh, oh man, _______, I’m so sorry” he rushed out, voice sounding harsh from sleep. You shoved down the thought that he sounded sexy with his voice like that and cleared your throat instead, slowly sitting up next to him.

“It’s cool, I understand” you replied, it was true. You understood that it had to be hard seeing your wife again, but also not at the same time. You couldn’t imagine being able to sleep next to someone that you lost again. He visibly relaxed and you stretched, popping some joints in the process and noticing Sans’ lights shrink for whatever reason. Maybe that was like… weird for him to hear or something? Him being a skeleton and all?

A comfortable silence fell over the room as you both fully woke up, Sans leaving to find Alphys so she could give you your last dose of healing magic. You relaxed while he was gone, leaning back against the bed and testing your injuries. They were both mostly healed, just a little raw and sore from the stitches, which he said would come out today too. You were almost… content.


	18. One Step Forward

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like my writing has become lackluster -_-  
> Tell me if I'm right?  
> Any suggestions or requests?

You left the ‘hospital’ decently early that morning, being babied by Sans. He wouldn’t let go of your elbow even though you only stumbled like… 3 times. You huffed at him, not wanting to admit that you appreciated his help in a way. Papyrus was with you as well, but he was more focused on Undyne, who was also fully recovered. Color you impressed. You thought she was strong, but damn.

  
She was limping still, leaning on Papyrus just barely. If anyone noticed her sharp fangs gritting themselves against what you could only imagine was a decent amount of pain, no one said anything. You were more focused on how fucking hot it was outside the building. Literal LAVA was no more than a few feet away! Who the hell would live here?! You panted in the heat, trying to stumble your way out the door where Papyrus stopped Undyne.

  
Wait. Why were they being released at the same time? Did they forget that you both literally attacked each other? Undyne seemed as confused as you were, glaring in your direction as she sweated in Pap’s grip.  
“ALL RIGHT, YOU TWO!” he announced, “IT’S TIME TO SETTLE YOUR DIFFERENCES! FISH LADY TO HUMAN! YOU ARE BOTH MY FRIENDS, I DO NOT WISH TO SEE YOU FIGHT!”

  
You swallowed, wondering if he and Sans were really helping you guys walk out or if they were simply there to hold you back. The fact that you got the more powerful brother (judging from the decimated forest vs macaroni puzzle) made you snicker internally.

  
Glancing from Paps to Undyne, she seemed 100% not about this. They appeared to be having a conversation via animated expressions and it was kind of hard to keep up with the weird looks. Sans snickered next to you, making you smirk at them too. They just looked so weird.

  
Papyrus huffed dramatically, “FINE! I GUESS I JUST OVERESTIMATED YOU AGAIN, UNDYNE! I THOUGHT YOU HAD THE MOST FRIENDS BUT IT HAS BECOME APPARENT THAT I AM THE CHAMPION OF FRIENDS! I HAVE TWO HUMAN FRIENDS! NYEHEHEH!”

  
She narrowed her eye at him, then peeked at you from the corner of her eye. She wasn’t serious, was she? You avoided her stare, looking literally anywhere but at her. You even glanced at Sans, silently begging for help. You were met with a sleeping skeleton. Great. You grumbled to yourself about god damn unhelpful sleeping skeletons and you swore his smile grew a little. What an ass.

  
Undyne cleared her throat, “ALL RIGHT, PUNK. LET’S PUT ASIDE OUR… DIFFERENCES. BECOME… FRIENDS! BEST FRIENDS!”

  
You didn’t like the way her eye twinkled and smile turned predatory.

  
“Uh… I think- I think I’m okay.” You squeaked, trying to back behind Sans. He’d protect you right? Or at least act as a sleeping shield? He didn’t seem to budge at all when you tried to move him though, so maybe not…

  
“PFFT. GET OVER HERE, NERD!” she boomed, beckoning you with her hand. Fin? Whatever.  
Your eyes darted to Sans again, he was still asleep even with them yelling. You sighed, “Uh, I can’t! Sans is um… sleeping! He won’t let go… guess I’ll just have to stay over here!”

  
She rolled her eye and stomped over to you, practically dragging Papyrus behind her as he Nyeh-ed. Oh shit, okay, giant fish approaching.

You poked Sans frantically in an attempt to wake him up. He grunted, eye sockets still closed. God damn it. What would get a reaction out of him? Uh… uhhhhhhhhh?! A kiss? No, too weird. Think, ______! Suddenly, it came to you.

  
“Wake up, you numbskull or we’re gonna be fucking _boned_!” you hissed, hiding behind his hoodie.

  
Sans immediately burst into laughter, making Undyne pause her stomping. He nearly doubled over, patting your shoulder. “That was a good one, Bud” he snickered, blinking a few times to take in the scene before him.

“ _Halibut_ we all go home for a nice nap? _Fin_ -ish this another day?” he suggested, making you cough to try and cover your laughing. He noticed though, his smile stretching somehow farther and you turned away to hide your blush.

  
Pap and Undyne both groaned loudly, if not super dramatic. “ONE DAY, BROTHER! CAN WE NOT GO ONE DAY WITHOUT A PUN?!” he pleaded, leaning against Undyne’s shoulder as she shook her head.

  
Sans chuckled, “But bro, they’re just so _punny_ ”

  
“SANS IS RIGHT, TIME TO GO HOME” Undyne called with finality, clapping Papyrus on the shoulder and causing him to stumble forward a step. He regained himself quickly, moving back to Undyne’s side as she limped away.

  
Sans was still shaking with laughter when he turned to you, “Ready to go?”

  
You hesitated, peering between them. You could stay with the skeletons, sure. They were safe. But were you comfortable? With… Sans being there all the time? Following you and babying you whenever he had the chance? You weren’t sure you could take it.

He was searching your face now, his smile slightly fallen, making you feel a little guilt as the one who made it drop.

  
“Undyne!” you called, uncertainty laced through your tone. She turned at your voice, looking confused.

  
You gave Sans a weak smile and stumbled quickly toward her, hoping he wouldn’t try and stop you. She turned defensive as you came closer, her posture stiffening with every step. You didn’t blame her.

  
“I… I wanted to apologize. And ask if I could stay with you? I give you my word that I won’t attack you as long as you do the same.” You stuttered out, feeling extremely vulnerable and uncomfortable as you extended your shaking hand.

  
She searched your features for a long time, her smile slowly growing. Her grip was like iron and you weren’t completely sure if she had broken something or not. You weakly smiled through the pain as she shook your hand.

  
“All right, but no funny stuff.” She said lowly, clearly meant for just you. You sighed in relief, you might be in danger with Undyne but at least she was up front about it. She pulled you in by your shoulder, making you rag doll in her grip as she pulled you along next to her. As expected, a familiar hum was suddenly next to you, shuffling along with the group. You tried not to look at him, afraid of the confusion he might have on his features.

  
After a bit of walking, you all managed to pile into a long boat piloted by a monster in a long purple cloak. Sans flipped a coin into the basket at their feet and the small gondola was pushed forward. You stared in awe at how the landscape changed almost abruptly, only travelling on the boat for maybe 20 minutes. Maybe that’s why it was so warm in uh… Waterfall as they called it, right in between the hot and cold biomes.

  
Undyne and Papyrus leaped off the boat, rocking it gently in the water. You looked to the cloaked dude, wondering if it bothered him only to find that he hadn’t moved an inch. Uh… okay. Weird. Sans had already teleported off and was reaching a hand for you as you carefully hopped off the boat.

  
You were already turned to walk away when the river person spoke up, “Tra la la… Beware of the man who speaks in hands.”

  
Freezing in your tracks, you turned only to find the same scene of an unmoving cloak. Their voice was so echoed and rough it might as well have been rocks. Sans stiffened next to you too and suddenly you felt uneasy.

  
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” you asked, looking to both of them for an answer.

  
Sans laughed nervously, tugging on your arm to leave. “H-heh come on, Bud” he pleaded quietly, steering you up the stairs away from the river. You went with him hesitantly, giving them both a confused and slightly irritated look. Why was everyone down here so fucking cryptic?

Undyne’s house was a small one, stout and looking like a fish. She had a dummy punching bag in the front yard and 2 large side windows made to look like eyes, with one that appeared to be broken. When asked about it, Undyne waved you off like it was nothing and Papyrus looked sheepish, wringing his gloved hands. There was a story here… but you could only guess someone had been thrown out the window. The thought made you smirk.

  
Inside the house is a large piano up against an old TV, next to a cushy looking couch in the corner… right next to the broken window. The far wall is lined with appliances and countertops for her kitchen, the dining room table taking the rest of the space in the room.

There’s also a door in the corner that you would guess leads to her room and bathroom. It was decent, far better than your apartment. Smaller than Sans and Pap’s house but you could work with a couch. That’s what you would have slept on there anyways.

  
“SO PUNK, THAT COUCH CAN FOLD OUT INTO A BED. YOU CAN SLEEP THERE AND I’LL UH… FIX THAT WINDOW.” She explained, rubbing the back of her neck. You gave her a thankful smile and plopped down on the cushions.

  
“Heh stop trying to steal our humans, Undyne” Sans spoke up, obviously trying to sound like he was joking with his wide grin. It came off as more of a threat though, his smile clearly strained as he peeked at you for a moment.

  
She scoffed, “_______ ASKED TO STAY WITH ME!” he glanced toward you incredulously, “MAYBE SHE JUST WANTS SOME FUN ANIME SLEEPOVERS!”

  
Papyrus gasped, starting to almost vibrate with excitement as Undyne gave a toothy grin. You smiled at their outburst, starting to discuss which anime to watch for the ‘first ever super fun friendship sleepover’.

  
Looking over at Sans, he was staring straight at you, looking more hurt than anything. You adverted your gaze immediately, focusing more on the threads in the couch. A weight shifted on the couch and you cursed in your head. Undyne and Papyrus left to Undyne’s room to pick out an anime too. God damn it.

  
“Bud… if you’re worried about something happening…” he started, sounding confused and deep in thought all at once. You waved his concerns away, trying to gather your own feelings.

  
“I just… I need some time to um… process all of this? It’s kind of a lot. And it’s hard to do that… when you’re kind of uh… hovering over me” you nearly whispered, one of your cuticles beginning to bleed from your picking and fidgeting.

  
His hand carefully picked up your bleeding finger and curled around it, letting off a pleasing warmth for a moment before pulling away. You weren’t even surprised to see your finger no longer bleeding and healed but you sighed anyway.

  
“’m sorry” he said gently, pulling his hand back into his jacket pocket. “You have magic though… and we don’t really know how it works with humans… you could maybe come over every so often and I could help you uh train with it? Maybe even get control over it? Undyne is a great warrior or whatever but ah… your magic is blue like mine.”

  
You considered it, realizing that you hadn’t even dealt with your feelings about your newfound magic. Jeez, was your subconscious working overtime on shoving shit into the back of your mind. That was a scary experience, you guessed. It hadn’t really affected you too much but you did almost kill Undyne with it… again.

You flinched internally. Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to at least find out what triggers it…

  
“All right” you breathed, picking out what you hoped was a spaghetti sauce stain on the carpet to stare at. You felt him relax next to you and it lowered your anxiety by maybe 2%. At least he wasn’t angry.

  
Undyne and Papyrus came out a little bit later after Sans had teleported back to his house to grab your backpack, both of them yelling about the carefully selected anime. Before you could say anything, Papyrus was fiddling with the television and Undyne had commandeered a third of the couch, munching on a giant bowl of popcorn as she directed Pap on how to work it. It was oddly comfortable considering that you and Undyne were literally at each other’s throats less than a week ago.

  
Within a half hour, Sans returned with your backpack and a small brick-like object in his hand. They both shushed him, even though he made no noise. With a roll of his eyes, he set your pack down by the couch and tilted his head toward the door with a brow bone raised as a silent question. Still smiling at the familiar sight of your backpack, you nodded and carefully peeled away from the overly full couch. Undyne ‘oooo-ed’ a bunch, Papyrus joining in quickly as you rolled your eyes too. What was this? Middle school?

  
He shut the door behind him quietly and turned to sit with you on the front steps, hands in his pockets like usual. Placing the brick like package in your lap, he motioned for you to open it. Confused, you peeled back the wrapping and opened the box to find a huge ass old phone. Surprised, you sputtered out a laugh.

  
“What?” he asked, laugh in his tone.

  
“Why did you get me this huge brick of a telephone, Sans?” you gasped between laughter, turning the fossil over in your hands.

  
“That’s some grade A technology right there, _____” he said seriously, forcing you into another laughing fit.

  
He took the device from your hand and flipped it open, showing a much bigger screen than you had expected which was also apparently a touch screen and pulled up something called the UnderNet, scrolling through what looked like a generic Facebook. You huffed, not impressed until he went back to the home screen and pressed an app that apparently let you store items in the phone. STORE ITEMS. You nearly lost your shit when he told you it had a jetpack ability.

  
Apologizing, you took the now high tech phone and scrolled through it, entranced. How could they have gotten this far with technology when your phone can barely survive a 2 foot drop? It boggled your mind.

  
“I uh, put in everyone’s number… including mine and Pap’s… so we can plan our magic training and if you need anything you can just text or call us. I’ll answer. Everytime.” He told you seriously and you knew he was telling the truth. You had no doubt that he would answer you on the first ring.

  
“Thanks, Sans… this is really cool” you said softly, giving him a genuine smile for maybe the third time.

  
“No problem, Bud. We better get back in there though, they’ll have a fit if you miss too much.” He snickered, patting you on the shoulder a little.

  
You nodded and stood, excited to test out the phone’s features and hurried inside after him.

The anime was still going full steam and they both groaned about you missing good parts as you sheepishly apologized. Tonight looked like it was going to be a long night of anime and burnt popcorn.

  
There was so much going on that no one even noticed the small golden flower outside.

 


	19. Embers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bruh i probably revised this like 20 times   
> took me two weeks  
> we here son  
> even posted early  
> lemme know if u dig it

It was rare for Sans to be at a loss for words, but here he was. Every time he saw you now it happened. Your soul was humming with his energy, his magic and every time he was near you, he felt it. That ‘slight electricity to the air’ as you described it. To him, it was like he had somehow marked you with his magic so that every monster in the underground that happened to pass you could feel it and just know. It filled him with pride and confusion, since he didn’t even know how it could happen.

Theorizing with Alphys wasn’t too helpful, but they both came to the conclusion that it probably had something to do with that ring you were wearing. He didn’t tell her about the other timelines or universes though and decided that maybe the soul bond went farther than he thought. She was still prodding him with questions regardless but thankfully stopped when he brushed her off.

He couldn’t see your soul like Frisk or any of the other monsters, being a judge and all. It perplexed him, especially since you were bonded to him. He could feel you though. Your emotions, your sudden fear in the middle of the night or the sadness in the early morning hours. He tried not to pry, to stay at his house and maybe coincidentally text you a joke. But some nights, when your terror woke him from his own nightmare… he couldn’t help himself.

Sometimes he would find you sobbing into your pillow, curled up in a twist of sheets and blankets. He would never let you know he was there, simply peeking to make sure you weren’t being attacked or worse. He could only imagine if you found out he was peeping while you were so upset already. Sometimes though, he would feel pain. So much pain he was afraid you were dying. He wouldn’t even stand up fully before teleporting to the shadows outside Undyne’s house those times.

That was when he would find you on the porch, sitting on the front steps with a crumpled cigarette lit between your fingers as you sparingly inhaled from it. His soul ached the first time he saw that far away look on your face, brows etched in concentration as he guessed you tried to sift through emotions. That electric energy buzzing around you like a hive of bees as you held your head in your free hand.

You had come to three training sessions for your magic so far and you weren’t even able to conjure it on your own the first time. He had tried regular training booklets made for monster children and even using his magic on you. He had asked if he could try something and you nodded, curious. Immediately, he pulled you into a hug and held tightly. As he guessed, you freaked out and flailed, telling him to put you down. When he shook his head and held tighter, he could feel the sparks brimming on your finger tips.

“There!” he told you, dropping you to your feet. You glared at him, the electricity jumping up your arm and raising the hair there.

When you finally looked down and saw the magic, your grimace turned into a smirk. “You asshole” you breathed, entranced by the way it danced over your hands and collected in the middle of your palm for seconds at a time.

He laughed, watching you play with a mixture of fascination and adoration. “Hey, now we know it stems from anger! Orrr maybe just your emotions? What were you feeling when I hugged you?” he asked, brow bone raising when your face flushed red. The current from the bolts surrounding your fingers licked up your arms and around your jaw, giving you a powerful and somehow ethereal look. _Damn it, you were beautiful._

You shook your head and mumbled about it probably being anger, and he couldn’t stop the shit eating grin that grew. “Anger, huh?” he quipped, watching you glare in his direction with a laugh.

The last one was a decent session, you were able to power the TV for Papyrus which made him laugh at your proud expression. In an attempt to tease you, Sans had asked if you wanted to go to Grillby’s with him, Mettaton flickering out of view as the breaker blew. Papyrus groaned at him loudly, grumbling as he stomped to the garage. It was still daytime, so seeing your beet red face through the darkened room was no problem.

“Why would you want to go there with me?” you whispered and he almost couldn’t believe his ears. If he had them.

“Well it is _Fry-day_ ” he chuckled, hoping to get that uneasy look off your face. It didn’t work. He sighed, “Bud, why wouldn’t I wanna go to my favorite place with my favorite girl?” _Smooth, Sans._ He grinned genuinely at you, leaning on the kitchen entrance.

“I’m dangerous”

“Hi dangerous, I’m Sans”

“I’m serious!”

“and I’m still _Sans_ ”

Your expression flickered for a second and he hoped you understood his meaning. You might not be in full control of your magic yet but he could handle anything you threw at him… literally or figuratively. He wasn’t scared of you, more enthralled than anything but never scared. Even if you did attack him, he was pretty certain at this point it wouldn’t be on purpose. At least not to actually hurt. You huffed, flitting your eyes to the worn carpet with your brows drawn in.

“N-no one wants to see me there, I… I can’t even control myself”

He could barely hear it but the words made him close the space between the two of you with an immediate short cut. He wrapped you up in a hug and for once, you didn’t fight him.

“aw, _____, please don’t tell me you’re thinkin’ that way” he nearly whined into your hair, rubbing your back for good measure. “You’re workin’ on it and you’re doin’ great! We just gotta be careful is all. Plus I’ll be there, I always got your back.” You relaxed slightly in his hold and he sighed in relief, loosening his grip on you.

 

* * *

 

 

After a bit more of practicing, he convinced you to come with him to the old bar, grumbling a ‘fine, I guess’ and grabbing your jacket. It was a quiet night, the snow had let up and the wind was just a gentle breeze. You glanced up at the ceiling of the underground and let out a quiet, resigned sigh.

“I miss ‘em too” he muttered, glancing over at your now confused expression. “The stars, I mean.”

You nodded in lieu of a response and he wondered if you were still thinking about the breaker in the house. It was so hard to help you this time around, even if he knew exactly how to do it. He couldn’t exactly pull you into his lap like he used to, you’d never talk to him again.

The door to the tavern twinkled as he held it open for you, following in to see that everyone inside was tense and staring straight at the both of you. _Shit,_ he forgot to tell them you weren’t a threat. You were even wearing the same jacket, _oh God damn it, Sans._ How could he forget this?

Peeking at you, you looked afraid, your stance defensive and like you might bolt at any second. You met his lights and he gave you what he hoped was a reassuring smile, draping his arm around your shoulders and leading you to the old booth. He hoped this would prove you were okay and it seemed to placate his bar mates. They hesitantly turned back to their own tables and continued their conversations, the gentle hum of bar noise returning.

You followed along meekly, keeping your head down and sliding into the seat across from him. You were fidgeting again, under the table this time as Grillby swung by quickly to grab his usual order times two.

“So…” he started

“So…” you mimicked him, glancing around the bar as if someone was planning to attack.

“You’re safe” he assured you, resting his skull on a hand. You turned to him, blinking a few times before focusing on the worn wooden table. Deep in thought maybe?

“What do you call a funny mountain?” he asked, meeting your uncomfortable gaze.

You sighed, “I dunno, what?”

_“Hill-arious”_

He could feel your fear ebb away, the small smile playing at your lips a trophy in itself.

Long story short, Grillby talked you into trying some of his drinks after some well-placed puns from Sans. He still couldn’t believe you liked them in this timeline, it blew his figurative mind. You snickered and shrugged, a slight sigh leaving you as the bartender turned away.

“So how’s Undyne treating you? I would have _trout_ you would be running for the _gills_ by now”

You glared up at him but your mouth twitched until you burst out laughing, forcing a hand over your mouth to muffle the noise. He sniggered as you tried to compose yourself.

“It’s really not that bad but I guess I _cod_ do better” you mumbled, voice growing quieter at the end.

His heart nearly stopped as his grin spread wide. “ _Whale_ , where were you thinking?” he asked without hesitation, the blush growing on your cheeks as the lights flickered in the bar. If his smile grew any more he was sure to split in half.

“I dunno” you muttered, perking up the second your food was set in front of you. The lights ceased their flickering, the steady warm light becoming comforting again instead of rave like. He thanked a confused looking Grillby with the wave of his hand and settled back against his palm.

“So I’m thinkin’ that maybe next time, you can power the whole house” he suggested, smirk uplifting when you choked on a fry.

“But that’s super hard!” you whined. _He knew how you felt._ **Focus, damn it.** nonchalant, _not hard. **  
**_

“Gotta keep pushing, Bud.” He said with a lazy shrug, stealing a fry from your plate. You swatted at him, motioning to his untouched plate with a glare. He snorted, looking you straight in the eye as he stole another.

“You lookin’ to get cut?” you hissed across the table, narrowing your eyes at him.

He tried so hard to keep the laugh in, “Maybe I am”

Not taking your eyes off of him, you slid the plate as far away from him as humanly possible only to have another fry stolen by blue magic. “You cheat!” you squeaked, the hum of electricity growing in the air around you.

He eyed you warily, ready to teleport you to the nearest tree clearing in case you couldn’t control yourself. You seemed to notice his look though and huffed, sitting back on the puffed booth seat.

“Smooth” he complimented, earning a grunt from you. That was the second time you had been able to control an outburst, even if they only happened ‘cause he was messing with you all the time. He was impressed considering your lack of training and your influx of emotions.

You turned your attention to the tavern’s company, watching the dogs bark over cards and a rabbit monster fiddle with the jukebox while you chewed fries. He took the time to observe the few scars that Undyne had left on your jaw and collarbone, though they were healing decently, he tried to swallow the anger he felt from the sight of them.

Your hair fell over your shoulders in waves, the light catching on a few select strands as you moved a section behind your ear. He couldn’t tell if your slight blush was from the warmth in the restaurant or from his teasing but it was adorable. The video game shirt (apparently it was an inside joke, you told him with a snicker) hugged your form, ending just above your thick leggings. The short sleeve revealed that you didn’t have your sleeves done yet and he wondered if your back had any lingering of ink.

He couldn’t look away.

But you weren’t her. He knew that, you knew that… and yet no one else knew you like he did. But it wasn’t fair to compare you to her. If anything was ever going to change, he had to be the one to let go. To move on. If it was with anyone, he would be glad it was… _you._ He tried not to laugh at that. But you still gave him a weird look.

“I know you’re not ‘er” he blurted, internally panicking at your frozen expression. “I… I wanna get to know you.”

You stared at your fries for what seemed like forever, chewing slowly and wiping your hands on your leggings absentmindedly. “Um…” you looked up shyly, “like what?”

He let out the breath he was holding as Grillby set the drinks down in front of both of you. He could have sworn he heard you mutter ‘praise’ as you gripped the sweating glass.

“What’s your favorite color?” he asked, turning the amber liquid in the shallow crystal.

“Uhh, blue? What’s yours?” you replied, inspecting the bubbling and sparkling drink. “What is this, by the way?”

“Monster drank” he drawled, shoulders silently shaking with laughter at the slang. You raised a brow at him, peeking back at the bubbling concoction. “C’mon, try it. You’ll love it” he encouraged, poking your arm with a lazy smile.

You swatted at him and he chuckled as you took a sip, a shiver following it as your eyes widened. Slowly, he watched your eyes turn a dark orange as you swallowed, your irises flickering like embers.

“Woah” you breathed, feeling your arms which must be heating up.

“Woah is right, _hot stuff_ ” he quipped with a smirk, sipping on his drink to match.

You glared at him but the anger wasn’t there, just playful annoyance. He tried not to stare too long at how your eyes flickered, the atmosphere of the bar making you look phoenix-like and dangerous. He settled for a wink instead, earning a huff in return.

With that, you downed the drink in one go, despite his protests. He knew other you could handle her liquor but she had never tried monster liquor like this. Too much red tape and magic for the humans up top last timeline. You swallowed your last gulp slowly, staring at the wooden table like it had moved on its own. _Jeez._

He motioned for Grillby, getting a few glasses of water without even having to ask. You were slouched against the booth now, seemingly contemplating your existence through a mile long stare at a chipped cedar table.

“You all right, Bud?” he asked quietly, worried that the drink was too much. Maybe this you didn’t normally drink as heavily or at all? Was it too much for you? He started to panic, sweat beginning to form as your silence stretched.

“’m okay” you mumbled, running a hand down your face. A look of anger passed over you, “No, naw. You know what… I’m not okay, Mr. stupid fucking skeleton face”

He had to grip the table to keep from snorting, he’d have to keep that name for a rainy day.

“I fall down this uh… this fucking hole, right? And ohhhh shit it’s a human… or whatever…” you press a hand to your face, “And then there’s this fucking flower… that talks to me-“

He froze, forcing his lights to stay lit. Better not to alarm you now, at least until he finds out what happened with the shit for weed.

“a-and I was like ‘oh cool, a friend’, right? But he was a total asshole-“ You take a sip of water and shake your head at the memory. “He started uh attacking me and whatever, so I kinda maybe… shot him?” Sans tensed, “I think he’s doin’ okay though. It was just a petal… nothing serious lookin’ I guess. I’m no florist.”

You sighed, staring at the cup of water and twisting it on the table. “I didn’ wanna hurt ‘im but… but he attacked me! I was already hurt… I didn’ wanna die…” you mutter, voice growing quieter with each word. He’s almost afraid you’ll cry until you look up at him with a weak smile, “I just wanna go home, ya know?”

He’s not sure what to say… but he nods anyways. You sigh, though if it’s in relief, he’s unsure.

“Is that where you got the uh scratches on your hand?” he asks tentatively, gesturing to your free hand. You look at the ring and scratches like you had completely forgotten, oblivious to the meaning or whatever happened there.

“Oh no… that was um Ryan, didn’ like it on m-me” you say with a shrug, turning to look out the frosted window at the snow that’s started to gently fall.

Ryan. He was still alive? He couldn’t help but be crestfallen, though what the hell did he do that caused scars like that? Did they still hurt? Was he the cause of torture on you? His mind reeled as he stared at the pale raised marks on your knuckles and finger, the metal as perfect as the day he gave it to you. He wondered how long it took for Ryan to give it up, that you were his, no matter what bullshit he pulled.

And now for the even bigger question, would he be coming for you? The thought made his soul cringe uncomfortably. He wasn’t good at sharing with most things, especially not his own wife.

“Are you… uh still with him?” he treaded carefully, searching your expression when you turned back. He almost wished he hadn’t asked. Your calm and cool façade melted when he uttered the question, turning to a mixture of guilt and pain. You only met his eyes for maybe a second before returning to the cedar table again.

“He kicked me out” you whispered matter-of-factly, turning your glass in place again. His heart sunk, had you been homeless before this? It wasn’t like you couldn’t handle yourself, he saw the tail end of your fight with Undyne. He just nodded again in understanding, figuring it was best to leave it be for now.

“What about your job? What do you do up there?” he asked quickly, hoping a change of subject would leave Ryan in the dust.

You peeked up at him again, a twinkle in your eye as you explained. “I work in uhm an a-astrophysics lab with my friend, right nowwwww I’m just doing data entry but I have this theory-“

And that began your 2 hour long rant about your theories of the timelines and your take on the multiverse and a way to breach the void itself. He listened attentively, chuckling every so often at how excited you got over your ideas. They were all decent theories too, he was impressed. Though, he already knew you were smart. But then again, you were different. He internally sighed at the confusion. Fuck resets.

He continued to ask you questions about your ideas, wondering why you didn’t write them into essays to get promoted to lab work. You explained that your field was mainly male based and as such, made it super difficult to get into the lab. The only way your friend had gotten in was through family connections and she really only handled supervision and management. He encouraged you to keep trying and write them down, informing you of the lab Alphys had access to as well as his books and garage.

The way you beamed up at him when he told you all of your resources down here could put a god damn light house to shame. It set his soul ablaze and he had to force himself to stay in his seat… to not teleport you both back to his room so he could just hold you for hours and hear that beautiful laugh. _Run his fingers through your soft locks. Feel your breath on the side of his skull._ **Fuck! Focus!**

Grillby was saying something, he was raising a flaming eyebrow. Glancing around, the bar was now empty. Shit, must be closing time. He brushed Grillby off with a mention of his tab, telling him he’d see him tomorrow. With that, he huffed to his feet and shuffled to your side to offer a hand. He was surprised that you actually took it, giving him a slight smile as your face grew red. Were you… blushing again? _Don’t get excited. **Don’t get excited!** It’s just friendly, platonic even. You got to vent and he got to hear how things were topside. Don’t ruin it now by being weird._

You stumbled out of the booth, narrowly being caught by his other arm. Stuttering something, you moved away quickly and pulled your coat around yourself. He couldn’t help but snicker, this you was so tsundere.

“Ay Bud, I know you probably don’ wanna walk home… you wanna take a short cut?” he asked quietly, glancing out the window. You nodded quickly before blinking a little, probably too fast of a nod. He snickered again. “A’ight, c’mere” he called over, offering you what must look like a hug.

You shuffled over, only stumbling once before you pressed against his rib cage hesitantly. He didn’t wait, shifting to Undyne’s living room before you had time to blink.

“W-Woah, I totally forgot you could do that” you said with laughter in your tone, swaying slightly.

He smirked down at you with a chuckle, “Yea, helps with the morning traffic.”

You busted out laughing, twisting in his grip as he shushed you playfully.

“That’s- That’s funny” you gasped out in a whisper, sitting on the edge of your couch bed thing while you wiped your eyes.

He kneeled next to you, “All right, Bud. You need anythin’ else ‘fore I go?”

Your expression suddenly fell, “Why d’you g-gotta go?” You sounded so sad it nearly broke his heart.

“You gotta get some rest, girlie.” He reasoned, rubbing a thumb on the back of your hand.

You pouted, huffing harshly at your lap. He tried to fight the amused smile that threatened to spread, instead opting for pressing a small kiss to the back of your hand. Smoothing in his magic with his thumb while you sighed sleepily. In an attempt to leave, he stood slowly as not to startle you but he didn’t get very far.

“Bud, I can’t leave with you hangin’ on me like this” he chuckled, trying to sound at least 10% serious. You grunted and he laughed as quietly as he could, “I can’t stay here, Undyne’ll _krill_ me”

He tried to memorize the feeling of you laughing against his chest, as fleeting as it was. You were still holding on to him, playing with the edge of his hood like you always used to do. It was comforting, just standing there with you pressed against him, fidgeting with him like old times.

“M-maybe I could come with youuuu?” you offered quietly, smile clear in your tone. He fought the smile that stretched across his skull, knowing it was probably a bad idea with you being drunk. But he didn’t want to force you into anything, he wasn’t even sure if he was ready for that himself. Snuggling wouldn’t be bad. No one gets pregnant or hurt feelings from cuddles.

You gasped into his hood as he shifted both of you, landing unceremoniously on his mattress. Good thing it was dark or you might have had a fit about the state of his room. He readjusted your giggling form against his, elated just to have you this close. _You were in his bed! He wasn’t sleeping alone!_ The giddiness almost outweighed the sleepiness but luckily, that’s where the alcohol kicked in.

 

* * *

 

 

The next morning luckily wasn’t awkward. You were red faced and stuttering as usual when you’re flustered but still texted him that you had a nice time after he teleported you back to the fish hut. It was a weight off his shoulders. He hadn’t fucked up this time. If anything, you were more responsive than ever after that. You would come over for magic training four times a week instead of two, always staying for dinner and giving him a small smile when you caught him staring.

It was surreal for him, all new and unadventured territory. It terrified him and excited him all at once, because it was you. The drawings you would doodle next to him while Paps watched Mettaton on the carpet, the way you debated on scientific theories with him, and the way you would turn beet red any time Undyne and Alphys gave you and him both wiggly eyebrows. He was pretty sure they had a fan fiction about you two, considering that’s all Alphys ever talked about.

All in all, it just turned him more protective of you. He couldn’t fuck this up now, not when he could feel you getting closer to him every text, every day, every dinner. The soul bond was stronger now than before, your emotions traveling to him at the speed of light. If you so much as pouted, he would know it.

That’s what brought him here. Watching you smoke your beat to hell cigarette on Undyne’s porch as you gripped the phone he gave you in the other hand. The early hours of the morning bringing a slight haze to the air from humidity. You seemed to be contemplating something but you didn’t look too focused. He hid a little when you brought the cigarette to your lips, flipping open the phone and typing away while you inhaled. A minute later, his phone vibrated quietly in his pocket.

**_________: 4:52 am**

**I really need you right now**

**Please**


	20. Author's Note

Hi...

So uh after much contemplation, I've decided to take a break from this specific fan fiction. I'm really sorry. I've been feeling frustrated with it and I'm really not sure it's too good anymore... Plus I need to distance myself from the stuff. It's also becoming unhealthy for me since I'll come home from work and just read fan fiction until I physically can't stay up any more. I've banned myself from reading the stuff and I actually have time in my day for normal person things and I'm not staying up until 3 am. It's amazing lmao

Regardless! I may come back to this when I have better confidence about the story or what have you... Otherwise, I am going to be starting a NEW work of drabbles and one shots of a sort that may come back to one scenario for multiple chapters. So far my ideas have a vague large plot, one that could be expanded on in multiple chapters if they're received well. I will also be taking requests on my ondayslikethese tumblr.

A few scenarios to give you guys an idea:

  * G!Sans from Echotale (not sure who to credit for that one?) falling in hate/love with a con artist
  * Hunter!Sans from Huntertale (lethalroar's AU on Tumblr) falling in love with a rebel/kidnapped victim
  * (not sure which AU to use for this one yet buuuut) falling in love with a princess when he visits their palace on monster/human relations duty
  * I may also include stretch/honey/orange/Papy (too many nicknames guys, get it together) from Underswap in something, not sure what yet
  * And holy shit a lot for Underfell!Sans cause who doesn't love that sweaty, perverted asshole



I'm not sure when this work will begin but I will try to keep you guys updated via tumblr and you can always subscribe to me on here! In addition to this, I'm gonna be starting a lifestyle (sorta) blog that has a little bit of everything but mostly focuses on video games and pop culture type stuff. An example: I want to talk about how the gaming industry has shifted more toward telling a story rather than playing a game anymore (not that it's a bad thing!), and how certain groups react to this type of shift in gaming categories. So it'll kinda cover video games, comics, cosplay makeup/nails, outfits, and other girl based pop culture stuff. I'm pretty stumped on the name so if you guys have any ideas, gimme a shout!

If you wanna stay connected with me you can follow my personal tumblr (message/ask/whatever) at supasaiyanswagg.tumblr.com or just keep following the fan fic tumblr, I'll post updates on the fics there.

I still post Undertale on my personal one every so often when I find really good or funny art!

Either way, I'm really sorry about putting this one on hiatus too. You guys deserve better. Hit me up if you have any questions, issues, or concerns, I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts and opinions on my new works and blog!

 

Love you guys

**Author's Note:**

> NOTE: NONE OF WHAT YOU READ HERE IS NORMAL, IF YOU THINK YOU MAY BE IN AN ABUSIVE OR TOXIC RELATIONSHIP, PLEASE SEEK HELP!  
> Follow the tumblr at ondayslikethesefuku.tumblr.com


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